AWC-SB honors outstanding women
All charged up Dos Pueblos beats San Marcos to close out season - A4
Our 165th Year
Award winners work to support and empower the community - B1
75¢
S A T U R D A Y , A P R I L 1 7, 2 0 2 1
Eight killed in Indianapolis mass shooting Officers report former FedEx-employed teen opened fire at FedEx facility
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Thursday night, a 19-year-old man opened fire outside and inside a FedEx Ground Facility in Indianapolis, killing eight people, wounding several others and then dying from a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted. The suspected shooter was identified as Brandon Scott Hole of Indiana, but Indianapolis police said they have not yet discovered his motive.
However, officers confirmed he was a former employee at the facility (last employed in 2020) and known to federal and local authorities prior to the attack. Mr. Hole’s name appeared in two previous police reports including one in 2020 in which a gun was seized, and a family member of his reached out to authorities warning about his potential for violence, according to CNN reports. The department’s police chief said Mr. Hole started randomly shooting at people in the parking lot, killing four, and
went inside to continue shooting, killing four more, all in a matter of a couple of minutes, according to The Associated Press. President Joe Biden ordered flags be lowered to half-staff on Friday and said in a statement following the shooting, “Last night and into the morning in Indianapolis, yet again families had to wait to hear word about the fate of their loved ones. What a cruel wait and fate that has become too normal and happens every day somewhere in our nation. Gun
violence is an epidemic in America. But we should not accept it. We must act.” The police department noted that a “significant” number of employees at the facility are members of the Sikh community, and it was later confirmed that members of that community were among the killed and wounded. The Sikh Coalition reportedly called for authorities to conduct a full investigation into possible bias. Names of the victims had not been released as of Friday afternoon.
In perfect harmony
Recall could incur costs for county
Foo Fighters spearhead campaign to benefit Jensen’s Guitar
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
For Jensen Guitar & Music Co., keeping tempo during the pandemic proved to be a challenge. Between shifting tier restrictions and multiple lockdowns, owner Chris Jensen told the News-Press that the Santa Barbara shop is running about “half-speed from what a normal year would be.” Without walk-in customers and weekly music lessons, it’s been difficult for the business to stay afloat. But hope may just be on the horizon for the 48-year-old guitar store. Thanks to a partnership between renowned rock band the Foo Fighters and Vans shoes, proceeds from a limited edition pair of Foo Fighters shoes and a special edition T-shirt will benefit Jensen’s Guitar shop. The Vans campaign, known as “Foot the Bill,” was started during the COVID-19 crisis to provide relief funds to Please see JENSEN’S on A6
Joyce Dudley, Santa Barbara County’s district attorney, told the News-Press that the shooting “brought immediate flashbacks” to the Goleta post office shootings that occurred in 2006, when Jennifer San Marco shot and killed eight people in Goleta, including herself. Ms. Dudley said this incident and the Indianapolis FedEx shooting are “eerily similar — painfully similar.” “When I thought about the FedEx workers, I thought, ‘These are exactly the Please see SHOOTING on B4
MADISON HIRNEISEN / NEWS-PRESS
Chris Jensen, owner of Jensen Guitars & Music Co., stands at his workbench surrounded by guitars. The guitar shop, one of the last standing in Santa Barbara, has faced unprecedented difficulty during the pandemic. But now, through a partnership between the Foo Fighters and Vans, the shop will receive some much-needed funding to get back on its feet.
Santa Barbara County could face more than $2 million in election costs if a recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom receives enough petitioned support, a leading official from the county’s Clerk-Recorder office said Friday. During a Board of Supervisors budget meeting Friday, Joseph Holland, the county clerk, recorder, assessor and registrar of voters, said his department is still processing the recall petitions against the governor. He added the effort “looks like it will pass” based on what he’s seen in recent media reports. He said if there is enough support for a recall vote, members of the election community are considering either Nov. 23 or Dec. 7. But if the recall effort prevails, the vote would not come without cost to the county. “We anticipate that to conduct this governor recall for Santa Barbara County, it may cost up to $2.5 million,” Mr. Holland told the board. Should a recall vote take place, Mr. Holland said the election would look different than other elections in the past due to recent legislation passed by the state. For this year only, the legislature ruled that all elections will be completed by mail-in voting. Therefore, if a recall vote is mandated, all registered California voters would receive their ballot in the mail instead of trekking to in-person polling places. This form of voting could become more prevalent in future elections, especially as local election officials are aiming to enact the Voter’s Choice Act. The VCA is a statePlease see recall on A3
Local sheriff, police chief discuss Tasers, de-escalation, lethal force By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Conversations across the nation regarding policing and the use of nonlethal and lethal force resurfaced this past week as a result of a fatal police shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on Sunday. Daunte Wright, 20, was shot to death by now former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter, 48, who was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree manslaughter. She now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and made her first court appearance Thursday, according to national media reports. Then-Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon released body camera footage of the incident, and said it led him to believe the shooting was accidental and that Ms. Potter’s actions before the shooting were consistent with department standards. In the video footage, Ms. Potter is heard warning Mr. Wright that she will use her Taser on him and is heard shouting,
“Taser! Taser! Taser!” After allegedly accidentally pulling out her 9mm glock instead of her Taser and fatally shooting the 20-year-old black man, she said, “Holy (expletive)! I just shot him.” Police officials concluded that Ms. Potter — who had worked for the department for 26 years — mistakenly confused her gun for her Taser. Ms. Potter and Mr. Gannon both resigned from the department on Tuesday. Mr. Wright had been pulled over for an expired tag. Officers then learned he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge, according to the news release from the Washington County Attorney’s Office. The video showed him being handcuffed, then twisting away to get back into the driver’s seat. Once he was shot, he drove away for a short distance and crashed into another vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident marks another black man murdered at the hands of a police
FOLLOW US ON
66833 00050
3
incident was “sad for everybody concerned.” “Certainly, we don’t need this, and when I say ‘we,’ I’m referring to society,” he said. “You have another African American man killed at the hands of law enforcement and you have a law enforcement officer who — by all accounts and I haven’t heard anybody discount it — made a horrendous mistake, and it resulted in somebody’s life. “There’s no winners in this at all, and it just makes the conversation about race and policing that more challenging.” The tragic fatality sparked conversations regarding Taser standards and which side of the belt an officer should holster their firearm versus their Taser. The Brooklyn Center Police Department reportedly follows protocol of holstering the Taser on the weak-hand side and the firearm on the strong-hand side, which matches local standards in Santa Barbara County. Sheriff Brown said mixing up weapons is “exceptionally rare,” but officers in
Santa Barbara County are still required to receive Taser training every year. “This yearly training is designed to train deputies to perform weak-hand or cross draws of the Taser to prevent accidentally drawing a firearm thought to be a Taser, target area considerations, handcuff during Taser application and transition to other force options, as well as de-escalation techniques, and restraint techniques that do not impair respiration following the application of the Taser,” the sheriff said. Santa Barbara Police Chief Melekian said that while he hasn’t been in the field himself for a number of years, the general strategy to de-escalation is to first try conversation and connection with the person, and if arrest is the end goal, handcuffing them as quickly as possible “so that there isn’t really time for the person to decide that maybe they don’t want to go along with the program.” “One of the realities of policing is that you do not really know the state Please see FORCE on A2
L O T T E R Y RESULTS
i nsi d e Classified.............. B4 Life..................... B1-2 Obituaries............. A6
6
officer, reopening the fresh wound of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. Protests have taken place five nights in a row outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department, and according to CNN reporting, officials anticipate protests over the shooting are only just beginning ahead of the verdict for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who was charged in Mr. Floyd’s death. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told the News-Press that when he heard the news and saw what happened, his “heart sank.” “It appears to have been a tragic accident, with striking similarities to what happened in 2009 during the apprehension of Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit Police officer,” the sheriff said. “My sympathies go out to the family of Daunte Wright as well as to Officer Potter, whose lives changed in an instant as a result of this tragedy.” Santa Barbara Police Interim Chief Brian Melekian told the News-Press that the
Sudoku................. B3 Sports ................... A4 Weather................ A6
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 7-10-20-28-33 Meganumber: 15
Friday’s DAILY 4: 5-4-5-8
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 17-27-28-50-55 Meganumber: 25
Friday’s FANTASY 5: 8-19-20-22-36
Friday’s DAILY DERBY: 02-07-03 Time: 1:47.28
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 13-30-33-45-61 Meganumber: 14
Friday’s DAILY 3: 3-0-0 / Midday 7-9-9