UPDATED: Avoid the 101

The CHP Traffic Incident Information Page never did show the 101 freeway closure relating to this situation, although they continued to list other situations (including minor ones). Why not?

http://cad.chp.ca.gov/

I heard that a robot was involved. Was it SB's bomb robot? Do you have pics?

I believe the McCain rally is over. Everybody back in your cars!

Thanks, Indy, for the email alert. Glad I signed up.

I believe the McCain rally is over. Everybody back in your cars!

==========

The gunman was actually an anti-war Obama supporter.

Cal Trans Road Conditions site
http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi
Listed 101 in SB area as closed, as late as 11:09. Now they are showing now closure, or rather are not showing anything abnormal.
Kind of dissapointing lack of current info there and even on the Independent, though the News Press web site has nothing whatever about this that I could find: predictably worse where considering readers needs is concerned.

I understand the robot was being used not because of any bomb threat or concerns but rather in order to deliver a cell phone to the moron - apparently, the police had no way of communicating with him.
Hard to believe one person could cause so much trouble and disrupt so many people's lives. Scary to think what someone with a plan and some brains could do to this place.

Good coverage on channel 3 until the power went out. Great coverage by the Indy for what happened next. Thanks for staying on top of the incident.

tegrat - the gunman was actually an anti-war Obama supporter, some reports stated that he had just recently come back from Iraq (unconfirmed as far as I know)
ftobe - I believe it was the bomb squad robot, it was still out roaming the street a good half an hour after the cops had arrested the guy and they blew something up when I was leaving

darmetsb that would be because you are watching the LA traffic reports not Ventura and Santa Barbara

this is the Ventura/Santa Barbara link

http://cad.chp.ca.gov/body.asp?centerin=...

I checked the Ventura region of CHP Incident at 8:15am and there was nothing on it, including 'filed incidents' or 'custom region.' The closure started around 7am. This is the 2nd time in 5 days that the CHP has failed to notify the public about a major Highway (101) closure that lasted for hours and snarled traffic throughout town. They had other SB incidents on the page while this was going on such as "Debris In Roadway" just a few miles away. Serious problem going on there.

Where is Harry Calahan when we need him?

Was he a McCain or Obama supporter...

Jeez! Does it matter?--he's plainly in need of major mental health care, and probably not of a sound enough mind to "support" anybody, including himself!

Personally, I think it was BatBoy. Watch out for this week's Weekly World News.

My comment was only meant humorously. I am grateful no one was hurt, and curious as to the real state of mind of the gunman. Thank you law enforcement for not over-reacting!

Great live info on Kjee radio - that's why it's important to have more than one or two news outlets!
Someone in Ventura Star postings noticed that there was an obituary in the Indy from Feb 09 for an Eddie Van Tassel who may have been this kid's dad - so much loss in war and life can be too much to bear .... We all need to look out for each other!

oops - feb 08

Looks like Eddie's father died earlier this year...note he is described as the silent searcher.....sadddddddd

http://www.independent.com/obits/2008/fe...

Did anyone else notice that the gun was reported as NOT LOADED. So maybe he had it just to get attention? PTSD? Thanks to law enforcement for not overreacting.

Don't be sheep! The man didn't stop the freeway, the authoritied did. Why? To blame the poor fool for something big! He was not shooting at cars, he was technically on freeway property - but it was a mistake to stop the whole city. Do you people see this?

It also was un-necessary to CLOSE THE FREEWAY IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. Why did the cops do this, just because some poor veteran is over expressing himself?

More people we're liable to get hurt by being stopped in traffic gridlock. Than hurt by one man with a flag in one hand and little gun in the other. blame this one on the Authorities - I do.

I don't get the Sherrifs, they rather shut down a whole city over one fool!

Thats authority for you - simply stupid.

Signed,
Morpheum

I'm so glad he's okay. People at work were angry at him, some said "he should just shoot himself and get it over with" and that sickened me. It is not common for NON vets to dress up in cammies and do something like this. When a vet does it, don't you think that we should stop for a minute and see what's going on? It doesn't take a brain scientist to see how lousy our vets are treated. Not only do we recruit these guys right out of school but then send them off to die, or watch their buddies die, in an impossible situation. Then they come back here, wounded and traumatized only to be neglected by our government. They come home to minimal financial, medical and mental health benefits, and to homes that are being forclosed on due to bogus mortgage practices, no jobs, etc.

He wanted to make a statement, he did, it inconvenienced people but so what? If more people made a stink about what they believed was right, and if people would stop their run in the rat race for a minute and care, the world would be a much better place.

Dhibbard commneted, he says no one was hurt.

The authorities chose to hurt everyone by punishing us all when they un-necessarily closed down the main artery to our functionality - the 101!

Come on Dhibbard !

sbsleuth99 in your comment you are wrong. The authorities did OVERREACT by closing down the whole freeway. does any body see this or a are you all a bunch of sheep!

It may be Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. We need to take better care of the mental health of our vets returning home. We need to take better care of those who serve our country.

Santa Barbara Sand commented that this Vet inconvenienced people. I say, He did'nt stop the freeway -Authorities did!. Authorities have no really good reason to shut down the whole freeway - in both directions!

All they had ro do was shut off the on ramps and off ramps an the intersection above the freeway. You gotta be kiddding me! I guess we are all like dumb sheep, we are that clueless.

We'll blame this Veteran Guy named Van Tassel for a bad decission by the sherrif or a bad policy by the State.

Again my point is there was really no need to stop the whole City of Santa Barbara for one guy who was not even shooting.

santabarbarasand said: "He wanted to make a statement, he did, it inconvenienced people but so what? If more people made a stink about what they believed was right, and if people would stop their run in the rat race for a minute and care, the world would be a much better place."

Well I had a family member miss a very important medical procedure this afternoon. So F#$& this guy. There are plenty of crazies in SB, why should he get all the attention? Also, when someone goes onto a freeway overpass with a gun and a mask, what do they expect to happen? If he did shoot a car on the freeway, all of you would be complaining that the sheriff SHOULD have closed the freeway and were idiots not to.

This guy is not only crazy, but he is selfish and greedy as well.

SantaBruta your anti-police comments in the past and this one now are not a shock coming from you. How many time have you been arrested by the people that you yell against?

Do you know anything about law enforcement procedures? Have you even watched a movie involving a cop? People with no police training know that if a person has a gun you shut down the surrounding areas, it is called common sense, something that you lack.

And BTW it was the police, not the sheriff. It might help your argument (the one you repeatedly post about) if you actually might now what you are talking about.

what unfolded monday morning is clear evidence of how paraylized we are in SANTA BARBARA,if somthing worse then this emergency ever happened here, we are #$%$ out of luck.how do we get out of s.b., nowhere out, so GOD HELP US IF WE COME ACROSS SOMETHING MAJOR.

I will take the unpopular stance of defending SantaBrutal's comments--at least the part about cops having a tendency of overreacting when it comes to holding up traffic.

About a couple of years ago there was a suicidal man who escaped prison somewhere up north (Might have been San Luis Obispo but I don't remember) and ended up on the northbound El Capitan exit. The end result was that he did a suicide-by-cop move and the cops were forced to shoot him which ended up killing him. The result was that after that happened, the freeway was blocked both ways for about five hours. Like SantaBrutal, I don't understand why this was needed. It was real simple: The guy lead the cops on a chase, ended up stopping at the exit, pulled a gun, and they killed him. Five hours of holding up traffic was unneeded (Was the guy going to come back to life?)

I also agree with DBD's comments. What about people who have real emergencies? Last year we had a sick cat that could only receive treatment in S.B. and had that happened the cat would have died. I could go on citing examples but DBD is right and they have to come down hard on this guy and make an example out of him. Besides that, he isn't saying anything anyone else isn't already saying.

If you have an emergency, sorry dying cat probably does not qualify, you call 911, they can cut thru the traffic. As far as closing the freeway, are you serious? What if that guy's gun was loaded and part of his statement was to die himself by shooting at passing cars? You would be the first one clamoring "Why didnt they close the freeway? It is what I would have done". It is easy to, after the fact, be critical. But you have to keep in mind that we have trained professionals here in our police force, and I would bet that they have a lot more training then you in how to handle a situation with a guy with a gun.

and yes I see my typo in the last comment

Dying cat, dying relative, whatever, there are many types of emergencies that can occurr and when people try to justify what this guy did I'm just letting them know that out the thousands of people who are held up in traffic, there will be some emergencies.

I agree with you on that, but this guy is to blame, not the authorities. They responded accordingly. Anything different and people's lives would have been in jeopardy.