The Tragic End of Gregory Ghan

In the early hours of May 31, two students walking by the Isla Vista Medical Clinic spotted a homeless man lying near its entrance. Unlike all the other unsheltered homeless sleeping on bits of pavement and dirt in and around Santa Barbara at night, this man was bloody. And moaning. By the time an ambulance got him to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, he was unconscious and his condition only worsened with time. Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department issued a statement saying the man, 53-year-old Gregory Ghan, appeared to have been assaulted. On June 10, when family took Ghan off life support, that assault became a murder.

Little is known about Gregory Ghan. He had a history of alcohol abuse. He was a loner, a camper, probably in Isla Vista for the Chula Vista festival. Jennifer Ferraez, a homeless outreach worker with the county, said he didn’t like the shelters. Similarly, little is known about his attack, even now, eight weeks after it occurred. Sheriff’s investigators have no serious suspects. They have information but are keeping most of it to themselves. They did, however, tell The Independent the attack was committed by two to five people. And they acknowledged there was a witness, another homeless man who goes by the name Shadow.

Wracked with guilt for not interrupting the fight, Shadow told The Independent some of what he saw and heard. He was sleeping behind a bush near the clinic the night of Ghan’s assault when the sound of arguing and physical fighting woke him. Someone repeatedly said, “Why do you gotta kick somebody while they’re sleeping?” According to Shadow, a different male then said, “You want to fucking die?” Shadow claims to have heard a bottle breaking and saw a young white male hopping around like a boxer and running off. Sometime afterward, a group of five people ran past the clinic entrance, and one reportedly said, “You’re messing with our frat brother.”