Local residents are on edge after a former El Camino College student leaps to his death at an ECC parking lot after stabbing his mother on Friday, Aug. 9.
The woman is in critical condition following the attack.
At around 5:20 p.m., first responders, including the El Camino College Police Department and Torrance Police responded to several 911 calls from witnesses who reported a shouting altercation between the victims near the intersection of Redondo Beach Boulevard and Stadium Way.
The former student fled to the fifth floor of a parking structure, where he jumped to his death.
The incident has prompted responses from the local community.
“I think it’s horrible. It’s really tragic and it’s really scary,” 30-year-old Jasmine Romero said.
Romero is a local resident whose weekly walks sometimes take her past the parking lot where the incident occurred.
“I can’t imagine something like that happening,” Romero said. “Of course, it happens everywhere. But that’s shocking, considering what happened in December.”
The Friday afternoon incident marks a grim milestone for ECC: two on-campus deaths in almost eight months.
The first was of Junko Hanafusa, who died on Thursday, Dec. 25, 2023, from injuries sustained in a sledgehammer attack the day before while walking her dog and collecting recyclables on campus.
The man accused of killing Hanafusa, Jeffery Davis, has since pled not guilty in an ongoing criminal case.
The case is currently under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, in conjunction with other agencies involved.
Devan King, 34, has lived in one of the apartments across the street from ECC for three and a half years. He was walking his dog when he heard sirens across the street while a woman was loaded into an ambulance.
“It’s a tragedy,” King said. “I didn’t sleep too well about it last night, staying up, watching the news, just trying to figure out what happened outside my doorstep.”
The Friday incident reminded King of what transpired almost eight months ago. His wife works at a nearby school.
“After the bludgeoning in December, I started walking her every morning to school,” he said. “But I’ll probably be walking her to school on Monday.”
Editor’s Note: The word “assailant” was replaced with “accused of killing” for accuracy on September 3, at 7:05 p.m.
