SANTA BARBARA—An elderly man in Santa Barbara was arrested on Wednesday March 17, 2021 after a local Sheriff’s officer conducting a wellness check discovered that the man was wanted for a fatal shooting from 1990. The man is expected to be transported from Santa Barbara County to San Francisco by Monday, March 22, 2021 to face arraignment according to officials.
Santa Barbara Sheriff conducted the wellness check at the 1000 block of Casitas Pass Road in the city of Carpinteria where 70-year-old James Francis Edwards resides. The Sheriff deputies ran a records check on Edwards that uncovered that he had a warrant out for his arrest stemming from a November 5, 1990 shooting.
40-year-old Edwards was wanted as the shooter of 46-year-old Lamar Vaughn on the 200 block of Potrero Avenue in front of the Martin de Porres House of Hospitality where Edwards & Vaughn engaged in an argument. It was believed Edwards had multiple aliases he used to camouflage himself from police detection. Edwards was originally wanted by SFPD for both murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm at the time.
“We would like to thank the members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in locating and apprehending Edwards and helping return him to San Francisco where he will be held to answer for the criminal charges,” the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement Friday, March 19, 2021. Prosecutors stated they will be reviewing how much evidence of the thirty-year-long case is left for them to go over.
