Santa Monica College shooting suspect ends his life before capture

Santa Monica College shooting suspect Davon Durell Dean killed himself following a SWAT standoff that lasted for hours in Hawthorne, Calif., Tuesday night.

Police said the Santa Monica College employee shot and killed himself after efforts to get him to surrender failed.

According to police, officers used a PIT (“precision immobilization technique”) maneuver to stop Dean’s car near El Segundo Boulevard and Aviation Boulevard and that led to a barricade situation.

SWAT officers stayed in an armored vehicle after hearing Dean’s gun fire, extending a tool to break the window and remove the weapon before approaching Dean’s car.

Dean, 39, was a suspect in the Monday night shooting that critically wounded a woman at the Center for Media and Design satellite campus.

The motive for the shooting is not known.

The Santa Monica Police Department said Dean’s criminal history included attempted murder allegations in 2011 and assault with a deadly weapon allegations in 2019. But his only convictions were for property crimes.

Police said the woman was shot in a workplace violence attack and it was not a random act.

Investigators think the woman was targeted by Dean. Her identity has not been released.