The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office arrested 51-year-old Donald Cameron on Friday afternoon for breaking into a vacant apartment unit at 897 Camino Del Sur and refusing to leave.

According to a press release from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, the apartment’s landlord called the police, after which the officers arrived on scene and searched the unit. Officers found the unit to be empty with the exception of a locked bathroom, where Cameron had barricaded himself, according to the press release. 

After multiple attempts to ask Cameron to surrender and exit the bathroom, officers formed a perimeter around the apartment and asked neighboring tenants to leave the premises, the press release read. 

Following an hour of negotiations, where even a friend of Cameron’s arrived on scene and asked him to surrender, officers deployed two rounds of oleoresin capsicum — or pepper spray ammunition — through the bathroom window, according to the press release. 

Cameron immediately exited the bathroom and was arrested on one count of burglary, vandalism and obstructing a peace officer. He is currently in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail on $50,000 bail. 

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Max Abrams
Max Abrams served as the lead news editor for the 2020-2021 school year. He is from Buffalo. That's all you need to know.