Other students who live in the area expressed concern about their safety, going on record about the recent crimes.
Some agreed to talk. Some asked that they remain anonymous. But all of them agreed on two key points - that the Lower Westside has a dangerous element.
Brendan Keane, a student at City College used to live in the Harbor Heights apartments on the Lower Westside, but found more pleasant living near the intersection of Bath Street and Mission Street.
"As you get farther away from the lighting, you get more break-ins," Keane said.
He keeps his curtains drawn, his business to himself and rarely sees his neighbors.
"I don't get into their business, they don't get into mine," Keane said. "That's sort of the vibe. Keep to yourself and nobody will bug you. Board up your personal life."
A City College student who prefers to remain anonymous lives and works on the Bath Street and Haley Street area.
"Police, newspapers, television. They're here every day," he said.
He's lived in an apartment complex filled with students, where life can get a little hectic. But he doesn't feel any need to leave the neighborhood.
"I feel really, really safe about Santa Barbara and this neighborhood," he said. It's much safer than L.A. right?"
He felt that the City College safety lecture had "too much cushion," and was "filled with stupid things."?
A 29-year-old in the drug-counseling certificate programming on Bath Street calls one of Santa Barbara's many sober-living houses home.
It is located between a heavily drug affiliated area and a liquor store, with State Street bars close at hand.
He said, if you make eye contact, a gangbanger may take it as 'mad-dogging,' a term that means to glare threateningly at someone.
"They may think everybody's out to get them," he explained. "So out of fear or an automatic need to defend themselves, they retaliate."
He also said that in this neighborhood, "addiction and alcoholism has spread like wildfire."
Even before the economy started to fail, this overpopulated beachside town and tourist attraction was expensive to live in. He said as people lose control of their lives because of alcohol or drugs, some have also lost their homes.
Compared to other cities, he's never seen "this many homeless people."
And many of the homeless walk down Haley Street.
Viran "David" Singh, owner of Brownie's Market on the corner of Bath Street and Haley Street encourages his student employees and customers to be careful.
One of his employees, to whom Singh also rented a room to, quit his job and moved out after a local television station broadcasted footage of his workplace. He feared he would be identified, that some kind of retaliation could come his way.
Singh noted a disturbing pattern - the last few murdered victims were all new to the neighborhood.
In addition to taking obvious precautions like not walking through poorly lit sections of streets, Singh also stressed the importance of avoiding eye contact with anyone they feel is a suspicious character.
While Santa Barbara may not have the reputation of gang-related crime that exists in big cities, these recent events have made quite a few people think twice before walking the streets at night.
Correction: Baldemar Leal was found dead on De La Vina street about a half a block between Cottage Grove and Haley street, according to SBPD Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte. The Channels regrets the error.
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