[Update: Mon., Oct. 20, 2025, 5: 25 pm] A man is dead after Sheriff’s deputies opened fire on the suspect in an assault with a deadly weapon that took place inside Ralph’s grocery store in the Magnolia Shopping Center Monday afternoon.
At 2:39 p.m. on October 20, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a man “actively assaulting a victim with a weapon” inside the store located at 5170 Hollister Avenue, in the unincorporated area known as Noleta.
“What is immediately clear is that deputies contacted the adult male suspect inside the store and attempted to apprehend him; however, there was an altercation, and the suspect was shot,” said Sheriff’s spokesperson Raquel Zick in a press release. “Deputies were not physically harmed, and the suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The type of weapon used in the initial assault has not been confirmed. Employees told other media outlets they heard several shots and mentioned a possible stabbing, but that detail has not been verified by authorities.
The California Highway Patrol assisted with securing the scene and briefly shut down the shopping center, which reopened around 3:30 p.m. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Ralph’s employees were sent home for the day and instructed not to return until Tuesday.
No deputies were injured. The identity of the deceased man has not yet been released, and detectives with the Sheriff’s Office are continuing their investigation.
“We are asking the public to avoid the Magnolia Shopping Center in Goleta,” the Sheriff’s Office stated in an earlier alert. “We will provide updates here as they become available.”
The Sheriff-Coroner’s Bureau arrived at the scene just after 4 p.m.
[Original Story] The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is on the scene of “an attack with a deadly weapon and officer involved shooting” at the Magnolia Shopping Center in Goleta, according to sheriff’s spokesperson Raquel Zick in a post on X this Monday at 3:17 p.m. The incident was first called in at 2:39 p.m., according to Zick. The Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to avoid the Magnolia Shopping Center in Goleta at this time and will provide updates as they become available, Zick said.
