Students and staff returned to Torrey Pines High School (TPHS) for the first time since an officer-involved shooting that left a 15-year-old student dead in the campus’ parking lot. NBC 7’s Gaby Rodriguez reports.
San Diego police say a 15-year-old boy left a suicide note before he was killed by officers after pointing a BB gun at them in a high school parking lot in the dark.
Assistant Police Chief Brian Ahearn confirmed to NBC 7 on Monday that police found the note on the Torrey Pines High School student and believe he called police and pointed the BB gun at them so he would be shot.
The shooting happened Saturday morning just before 3:30 a.m. when the teen called 911, asking officers to conduct a welfare check on a minor -- himself -- who was standing at the TPHS parking lot in the 3700 block of Del Mar Heights Road in Carmel Valley, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Acting Homicide Capt. Mike Holden said. said.
The student spoke about himself in the third person in what Holden described as a routine, "very general 'check the welfare'" call to police.
The caller stated that the minor who needed to be checked on did not have a weapon, Holden said.
Two officers -- Officer Gilbert Flores, a 28-year veteran and Officer Kai Johnson, a four-year veteran of the department -- headed to the parking lot and found the student standing in the front parking lot of the school.
When officers arrived at the parking lot and got out their patrol car, the teenager allegedly pulled a what appeared to be a gun from his waistband and pointed it at the officers. The officers fired their weapons at the teen, fatally striking him several times. The student was rushed to a local hospital where he died a short time later.
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A "semi-automatic BB air pistol" was recovered by police at the scene, Holden said.
The student will not be identified, the SDPD said, due to his age. He lived in the neighborhood with his family.
The investigation into the shooting continues. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
