[Updated: Mon., Aug. 4, 2025, 3:30pm]
Santa Barbara Police have arrested a new suspect in connection to the deadly stabbing that occurred on the 500 block of State Street during this week’s Fiesta festivities — a suspect who was involved in another stabbing on lower State Street back in 2018.
Suspect Juan Fernando Rios, 28, was taken into custody without incident, police announced in a press release on Saturday afternoon. The announcement comes a day after police arrested Luis Gerado Terrazas, 29, in connection with the early-Friday stabbing, which left one person dead and sent two others to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Jail records show that Terrazas and Rios were both arrested on Friday and are being held in the Main Branch Jail. Terrazas’s bail is set at $1 million, and Rios’s is $2 million.
Rios was previously criminally convicted for his involvement in a separate stabbing of three people on lower State Street, according to court records. That incident occurred just before midnight on February 3, 2018, on the 600 block of State Street, where Rios (who was 21 at the time) and another man, Daniel Medina (then 23), reportedly got into an argument with a man and his niece, KEYT reported. Police said the two men then followed the pair and punched the woman in the face, knocking her to the ground, before stabbing her uncle and two Good Samaritans who attempted to help the victims.
Rios and Medina would both be charged with a host of felony charges, including attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, along with gang-related enhancements. Both men were ultimately found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to produce great bodily injury, and Medina was additionally found guilty of an enhancement that he committed the felony in benefit of a street gang. Rios was sentenced to four years in state prison, while Medina was sentenced to 18 years. As one of the conditions of Rios’s sentencing, he was to register as a gang member.
Rios also appears to have been charged with attempted murder and other felonies in connection to a September 2013 assault, according to court records. He pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to produce great bodily injury and to participating in a street gang. He served 354 days in county jail and was sentenced to three years’ probation in that case, records show.
Based on the date of the charges, September 5, 2013, the case would appear to stem from another gang-related stabbing that same day, this one on the 1300 block of Chino Street near the Westside Boys & Girls Club. In that case, two juvenile males and two men attacked a 17-year-old male, sending the victim to the hospital with multiple stab wounds.
As for this Friday’s incident, police say it began as a fight involving individuals who may have known each other and that “there is no indication of an ongoing threat to the public.”
“The Santa Barbara Police Department remains fully committed to ensuring safety and security during Fiesta,” SBPD said in a press release on Friday. “All Fiesta-related events are continuing as planned, and officers will remain highly visible and fully deployed throughout the festivities to maintain public safety.”
Police continues to pursue additional leads and encourages anyone with information to contact the Santa Barbara Police Department at (805) 882-8900.
While authorities have yet to officially release the identity of the person killed in Friday’s stabbing, a GoFundMe set up on behalf of his family identifies the victim as Anthony Michael Bisquera Hartley, a father of three young children.
The fundraiser’s organizer, Monique LaMarca, writes on the GoFundMe page that Hartley was “a goofy, easygoing guy,” “an amazing father who showed up for his children and worked hard to provide for them,” and “a solid friend and brother/son.” As of this writing, the GoFundMe had raised more than $10,000 toward its $16,000 goal to cover burial costs and other expenses.
On Sunday, police announced the arrest of a third suspect in Friday’s stabbing. Sergio Rivas, 30, was arrested without incident by investigators and was in possession of a loaded firearm, according to police. Custody records, which list Rivas’s occupation as bartender, show that he is being held in the county’s Main Jail on $2,050,000 bail.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that custody records showed that Luis Gerado Terrazas was no longer in custody; he is, in fact, still in custody at the Main Branch Jail and being held on $1 million bail. This story was also updated to note that a third suspect was arrested on Sunday.
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