Dirt biker lived life ‘full throttle’Free Access




Nurse Kathy Dunham said her son, Jake, had more than his fair share of injuries over the years, including a fractured skull, a broken arm, a torn ACL and an eye injury that caused him to lose vision in his right eye at the age of 7.

To complicate matters, he also had hemophilia.

Jacob Dunham  Courtesy photo

Undeterred by the medical condition that prevented his blood from clotting normally, her son was an avid dirt biker who liked to take “toys,” like his Trophy truck, out to the desert. Jake Dunham had plans to go to the desert the weekend of Nov. 9. His mother said he was already packed.

When he left for a place like Dirt Diggers in the Mojave Desert, his mother and grandmother worried about him getting hurt. For all the time she spent worrying about his safety, Kathy Dunham said, it never occurred to her to worry about him going to a bar with friends like he did last Wednesday night.

The 21-year-old was among the 12 victims killed in a mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill Nov. 7.

“Pedal to the metal. Full throttle. That’s the way my kid lived,” his mother said. “Never in a million years did I think this was the way he would die.”

Jake Dunham grew up in Newbury Park and attended Cypress Elementary, Manzanita Elementary, Sequoia Middle and Conejo Valley High schools. He hated needles and spiders but he loved country music, Taco Bell and Domino’s hot wings.

He also loved his friends. His mom said many would come to the Dunhams’ Newbury Park house as soon as the sun was up. She said Dingman and her son were the “core of the group.”

Two friends were at Borderline with Dunham and Dingman last Wednesday night. When they left the bar, they tried to get Dunham and Dingman to leave with them, but the two declined and said they would be leaving shortly, according to Dunham’s mother.

As the friends left Borderline, they passed the shooter, she said. When they reached the parking lot, they heard gunshots ring out. Then they called her.

Kathy Dunham was waiting to learn of her son’s fate when his friend Brooke Weger tracked the location of Dingman’s phone.

Dunham said that when Weger discovered her son’s best friend’s phone was still inside Borderline, she realized the unthinkable had happened.

As a tribute to the truck-loving duo, their mutual friend Weston Thurmond organized a freeway procession of trucks flying American flags that started in Westlake Village and drove down the 101 Freeway on Nov. 10.

Jake Dunham loved anything with an engine, so Thurmond organized a vigil for him and Dingman at MB2 Raceway in Newbury Park Friday night. Dunham’s sister, Alexis, had shirts made for the event featuring an image of her brother jumping his truck.

Thurmond implored his friends on social media to donate to fundraisers to support the grieving families.

Kathy Dunham and her husband, Ken, are graduates of Newbury Park High School. After their son was killed, they learned Dingman’s mother attended NPHS as well, and they realized for the first time that they’d known each other in high school.

The two grieving families are planning a double memorial service for their sons at 2 p.m. Sat., Dec. 8 at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village.

Jake Dunham was in the process of rebuilding the engine of his Trophy truck when he was killed. His mother said that his father and friends will complete the task in his honor.

This story was updated at 8:50 a.m. Nov. 26, 2018.