Officers shoot and wound armed man at California community college

[January 23, 2015]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two campus police officers responding to a report of a hostage situation shot and wounded an 18-year-old man on Thursday in a parking lot at a Southern California community college after he pointed a gun at them, police said.

The shooting at El Camino College in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance shook up people at the school, which according to a state website has about 27,000 students. But a school representative said the campus did not go on lockdown.

After the officers arrived at the scene, they found the man next to the stairwell of a parking structure, El Camino College Police Chief Michael Trevis told a news conference.

"The individual produced what appears to be a firearm, pointed it at the officers and the officers fired," Trevis said.

The suspect, a former student at the school, was taken by ambulance to a hospital and was listed in critical condition, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

A handgun was recovered at the scene, according to the Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting.

The man, whose name has not been released, had called police claiming to be holding a hostage, but no hostage was found, school officials said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lieutenant Dave Dolson told local television station KABC the man may have intentionally set out to confront police.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Eric Walsh and Peter Cooney)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.