Shooting suspect remains in ICU
UPDATE: Feb. 6, 3:25 p.m. According to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, Peyton Dingman’s bail has been set at $15,500.
ORIGINAL STORY The 18-year-old suspect in the Jan. 22 on-campus officer-involved shooting remains in the intensive care unit at a local hospital but is stable, Sheriff’s homicide Lt. Dave Dolson said in an email today.
Peyton Dingman, a former EC student, is accused of calling 911 from an EC parking lot about a false hostage situation nearly two weeks ago, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department.
When confronted by two El Camino Police Department (ECPD) officers, Dingman allegedly pulled out an Airsoft pellet gun completely wrapped in black electrical tape, making it look like a real gun, according to the press release.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the two ECPD officers who responded to the incident have been identified as Marcus Thompson and Leroy Enriquez. Thompson has been with the department just over six years and Enriquez has been with the department for about a year and a half, Dolson said.
One of the officers had a .40 caliber Glock. The other had an AR-15, Dolson said.
According to the press release, Dingman left a suicide note at his home in Torrance where he lived with his grandmother. Dolson said the backpack left at the scene of the shooting had notes in it from Dingman to his relatives.
Dingman’s Facebook page says he went to Bert Lynn Middle School in Torrance. The newest photo on his page, one added in December, is of guns with text that says, “Rights don’t change…just because technology advances.” Other posts on his page are about petitions to end the California drought.
Read our first story about the Jan. 22 shooting, updated throughout the afternoon that day.