Victor Manuel Ayala Sanchez arrested after hours-long SWAT standoff in Santa Maria
Andrew Gillies
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – After a four-hour standoff Wednesday in the cul-de-sac of East Sunset Avenue, deputies took 30-year-old Victor Manuel Ayala Sanchez into custody on multiple outstanding warrants.
According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, deputies tracked Sanchez to a home in the 1100 block of Sunset Avenue, near Tunnel Elementary School, and learned that several other people, including a child, were inside. All of the occupants were safely evacuated during the standoff, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The incident began just before noon when Sanchez barricaded himself inside the home. Nearby streets remained open during most of the operation, and the cul-de-sac was later reopened after the suspect was taken into custody. There were no reports of injuries.
Deputies issued multiple verbal commands and made several phone calls urging Sanchez to peacefully surrender before entering the home around 3:18 p.m., where they found him hiding in an attic area, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Your News Channel was on the scene and observed multiple law enforcement vehicles and personnel, including a SWAT team staging in the cul-de-sac, a Bearcat armored vehicle, and a helicopter circling overhead. The command post was set up at the Santa Lucia District Ranger Station on Carlotti Drive, just a few blocks to the north. Several law enforcement agencies assisted in the operation.
“We are in the city of Santa Maria, but this is the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office handling this call,” said Raquel Zick, the agency’s public information officer. “Thankfully, the schools are in session right now, so we didn’t have to contend with that. It is a short cul-de-sac, so it’s not having a whole lot of impact on area residents.”
Sanchez was booked into the Northern Branch Jail on outstanding felony warrants, including brandishing a firearm, robbery, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, gang enhancement, evading police, criminal threats, assault with a deadly weapon, and carjacking, as well as additional misdemeanor charges. The Sheriff’s Office also listed drug charges, weapons violations, and resisting arrest among his outstanding warrants. He remains in custody without bail.