May 7 (UPI) -- A 15-year-old shot to death by San Diego police officers after pointing a BB gun at them had a suicide note withhim, authorities said Monday.
The note, recovered after he was shot, indicated the teen "planned the incident that resulted in his death," acting San Diego Police Capt. Mike Holden.
Police said the boy was killed early Saturday morning in the parking lot of Torrey Pines High School, where he was a student.
It happened after two officers responded to a 911 call by someone asking for a welfare check, said police Capt. Mike Holden. The caller said the 15-year-old was not armed.
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Authorities said they later determined the boy made the call and was referring to himself.
The incident escalated when the teen pulled a handgun concealed in his waistband and pointed it at one of the officers, police said. He ignored repeated warning to drop the gun and was shot multiple times. The teen was pronounced dead at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif.
The officers wear wearing body cameras, KGTV reported, but the video has not been released.
Police also haven't released the names of the officers. One has been on the force for 28 years and the other for four years, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. One is also on the department's Juvenile Services Team, Holden said.
Suicide by cop "has received little attention" and "often is unpreventable," an FBI bulletin said in 2014.
More than 2,200 people:"https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2017/?tid=a_inl" target="_blank"} have been fatally shot by police since 2015. One-third resulted from suicide by cop, according to a {link:joint report by the Treatment Advocacy Center and National Sheriffs' Association.
The San Dieguito Union High School District confirmed in a letter to parents that the teenager was a student at Torrey Pines.
"Our hearts go out to the student, his family, and his friends," SDUHSD Superintendent Eric Dill said in the letter. "The details of the situation are still unfolding, but whatever they are, this event is very traumatic for our students, staff, families, and community. ... (W)e ask that you please refrain from conjecture or spreading rumors."
