A Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputy was stabbed early Friday morning while responding to a welfare check in Goleta, authorities said.
Deputies were dispatched shortly after midnight to La Posada, an interim supportive housing community in the 4500 block of Hollister Avenue, after a man called emergency dispatch “in an agitated state” and made statements indicating he intended to harm someone, according to a news release issued by Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Raquel Zick. The caller hung up and then phoned again minutes later, repeating the threat.
Deputies arrived around 12:13 a.m. and located the man — later identified as 44-year-old Abu Bakr Sugich — near the northeast corner of the property. Sugich “appeared extremely agitated,” and deputies initially maintained distance while attempting to calm the situation, Zick wrote.
During the encounter, Sugich briefly walked away before returning and advancing toward one of the deputies. “Without warning, Sugich produced a black hunting-style knife and stabbed Deputy Fabian Flores in the upper chest,” the release stated.
Authorities said the suspect continued the assault before additional deputies were able to subdue him, forcing him to the ground and placing him in handcuffs. Deputies then immediately began administering medical aid, applying direct pressure to Flores’s wound while requesting fire and ambulance response.
Flores was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he was treated for what officials described as a non-life-threatening stab wound and received sutures. He was later released and is recovering at home.
Sugich was booked into the Santa Barbara County Main Jail on felony charges, including attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held on $1 million bail.
In the statement, Zick said the incident illustrates “the unpredictable and dangerous nature of law enforcement work,” as well as the role of de-escalation and coordinated response in protecting both deputies and the public.
The investigation remains ongoing.
