Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies arrested Isla Vista resident Ghazi Elayyan after a “bizarre incident” in which he trashed a 7-Eleven convenience store in Goleta. According to authorities, Elayyan, 27, entered the Calle Real store making incoherent statements just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday and immediately started destroying merchandise, throwing dozens of glass bottles onto the floor and damaging several display cases.
There were no other customers in the store at the time, officials said, and employees were able to hide in a rear office as Elayyan continued on his path of destruction. When deputies and members of the county’s Crisis Intervention Team arrived, they found him standing and screaming in the middle of the store and suffering from several cuts to his hands and feet.
Elayyan was arrested and charged with felony vandalism, and is now receiving a mental health evaluation in jail, authorities said.