But the murder of Mr. Simpson — a former Marine, a traveler, a reggae-music radio host and the guy who was always willing to chop your firewood — on the beach here last month at the hands of a man the police say is a gang member has left a deep imprint on this seaside community.  While rival gangs have menaced the streets of Santa Barbara for years, Arroyo Burro Beach, known locally as Hendry’s Beach, has been largely immune — a haven where generations of local children, wealthy residents from the canyons with their dogs and aging surfers, their waves forever glassy, relax in relative harmony on the windy shores.  “As long as I have been living in this community, I have never been this shocked,” Greta Howorth, 63, who has lived in the area for more than 50 years, said at the edge of the beach Tuesday.  Residents say the killing — both in its viciousness and its location — underscores the need for stronger law enforcement efforts against the town’s two gangs.  One day last month, Mr. Simpson, known as Bobby I, knocked off from his part-time job at the Three Pickles deli and headed toward Hendry’s Beach, just outside the Santa Barbara city limits, said Robert Lovejoy, who owns the deli with his son, Clay. There, a large crowd was taking in the sun, including several people who belong to gangs.  Police officials say a dispute broke out between Mr. Simpson and a gang member, and Mr. Simpson prevailed. Moments later, the police say, Adrian Robles, an associate of the gang member, approached Mr. Simpson from the side, stabbed him in the neck and fled. The crowd descended on Mr. Simpson in a frenzied attempt to save his life. Less than an hour later, he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.  “What’s different in this case is that gang violence here is usually gang on gang,” said Drew Sugars, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara Sherriff’s Department, which responded to the call; it was the county’s first gang homicide in department officials’ memory, he said.  On Tuesday, Mr. Robles, 20, who has a felony conviction, pleaded not guilty. He is charged with murder with gang-related enhancements, which carries a sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty.  “I have no evidence that even puts him at the scene,” said his court-appointed lawyer, Steve Balash, who said he had not yet fully reviewed the case. Two other suspects, both female and one a minor, have also been arrested and charged in connection with the murder.  Like most of Southern California, the City of Santa Barbara has endured gang violence for at least two decades. The city has roughly 600 active members in the east and west gangs, whose territory is divided by the main drag, State Street, according to Sgt. David Henderson, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara Police Department.  A gang fight near Stearns Wharf on the Fourth of July in 2008 left one member dead. In 2007, in plain view of tourists making their way by Saks Fifth Avenue downtown, a 15-year-old was stabbed to death by gang members.  In 2008, the Police Department used federal racketeering charges to make a dent in gang activity and had some successes — gang-related crimes fell that year to 862, from 884 the year before, but in 2009 those crimes rose to 1,022, according to statistics from the department.  Some residents have clamored for the city to adopt the type of gang injunctions other cities use to make it difficult for gang members to congregate, something department officials are considering.  “Injunctions are definitely labor intensive,” Sergeant Henderson said, referring to the time and effort necessary to enforce them, “but it is something that is a priority of our chief to look at it.”  At a memorial service last weekend, people mourned Mr. Simpson, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who spent his time traveling, surfing, paddle boarding or organizing community beach activities.  “Everybody knew Bobby,” said Mr. Lovejoy, who made sandwiches for the memorial. After the service, Mr. Simpson’s mother, girlfriend and friends scattered his ashes from a boat offshore so they would drift into Hendry’s Beach.  “He did a lot of things that wouldn’t be classified as a success in terms of a career, but whatever interested him, he would do,” Mr. Lovejoy said.  The psyche of Santa Barbara, known for its small-town ways and elegant little streets, has become collateral damage.  “The victim’s ties to this community are very long,” said Hilary Dozer, the county’s lead gang prosecutor. “And to come to an end this way does impact us. This is a place we always thought was safe, where many locals go to walk on the beach, enjoy the sunset and enjoy normal family activities in a place now sullied by burn-off of the victim’s blood.”
A stabbing death on the beach last month has residents in Santa Barbara, Calif., calling on the police to crack down on the cityâs two rivals gangs.