The student who shot five people at Granite Hills High School and later committed suicide behind bars had tried to hang himself in jail numerous times before he succeeded last month, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.
In a report released yesterday, investigator James Buckley wrote that Jason Hoffman, 18, had "made multiple threats and attempts at suicide, most of which involved making a noose out of bed sheets to hang himself."
Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Lewis said he was aware of two suicide threats. In the first incident, deputies found torn bedsheets in Hoffman's cell. Hoffman then was placed in a padded cell. He later was moved back into a regular cell, but away from the general jail population, after he was evaluated by a doctor, Lewis said.
The second threat came to light after Hoffman killed himself, Lewis said. An inmate told investigators he heard Hoffman say something about being unhappy the night before he hanged himself Oct. 29. The inmate "did not think enough of it" and did not report Hoffman's comments to deputies, he said.
Hoffman was found hanging from bedsheets he had shredded into strips and threaded through a vent screen in his cell at the county jail in downtown San Diego. Deputies last checked on him less than an hour earlier, the Sheriff's Department said.
Deputy District Attorney Dan Lamborn, who prosecuted Hoffman in connection with the March 22 attack, said the Medical Examiner's report came as a surprise.
"It bears asking the jail whether it's true," Lamborn said.
Lewis said he would review the file today to investigate the other apparent suicide attempts.
"If there's other ones, I don't know," he said.
Deputy Public Defender William Trainor, Hoffman's attorney, declined to comment.
Before the shooting, Hoffman was diagnosed as clinically depressed and in need of anti-depressants. Two weeks before he hanged himself, Hoffman told a probation officer he opened fire at the high school because he wanted a police officer to kill him.
"I wanted to do suicide by cop," Hoffman said, according to the probation officer's report. "I got to thinking, 'What the hell is the point of life?' "
The report from the Medical Examiner's investigator raises questions about the type of care Hoffman was receiving and why the jail did not keep him under suicide watch.
Whether Hoffman was receiving medication while in jail remains unanswered. According to Buckley's report, toxicology results are pending.
Hoffman's mother, Denise Marquez said yesterday she is contemplating a civil suit, "but I don't know what I'm going to do."
" ... I have my life to put together right now," Marquez said.
Hoffman opened fire at the El Cajon campus and wounded three students and two teachers. He was facing a prison sentence of 27 years to life after he pleaded guilty in September to one count of premeditated attempted murder and five counts of assault.
A note found on the top bunk of Hoffman's cell made "short inferences stating his dislike of jail, prison and his life," Buckley, who determined the cause of death as asphyxia by hanging, said in his report.
Daniel Chacon: (619) 593-4960; daniel.chacon@uniontrib.com
