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Reuters / Patrick T. Fallon
Police opened fire on this blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck in Torrance, Calif. while searching for a similar vehicle driven by murder suspect and ex-cop Christopher Dorner.
Published 6:30 p.m. ET: They were in the wrong car at the wrong time.
Two women who were delivering newspapers in Torrance, Calif., early Thursday were shot by jittery Los Angeles police officers who mistakenly thought cop-hunting fugitive Christopher Dorner might be in their vehicle, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.
One was shot once and the other twice; both were were expected to survive. Police did not release their names.
REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon
Police detectives investigate a shooting scene involving a black Honda pickup truck in Torrance, Calif. Police opened fire on the vehicle in a case of mistaken identity while searching for former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner.
The LAPD detectives were in the neighborhood to watch over a home they believed Dorner might target. Hours earlier, the fired cop had allegedly ambushed officers in two other cities, killing one of them.
Across the region, cops on high alert were on the lookout for Dorner's dark-colored Nissan truck. In the predawn dark, they saw a blue pickup rolling through the streets with no headlights on.
It's unclear what happened next, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck confirmed the officers fired on the vehicle, hitting the two occupants. He said it was a tragic case of "mistaken identity."
Less than a half-hour later, cops fired on another vehicle in Torrance, just two blocks away from the first scene, NBCLosAngeles.com reported. No one was injured in that vehicle, which was similar to Dorner's truck, police said.
Dorner, 33, remains at large. Police say he waging a vendetta against the LAPD for firing him, and has already murdered a retired captain's daughter and her fiance, along with the officer slain in Riverside. They say he detailed his plans and hit list in a twisted online manifesto titled "Last Resort."
Related:
Hunt on for ex-LAPD officer in revenge slayings
Leave a Comment:
Be on the lookout for a big man who may be disguised as two women, or three children or elderly couples at Bingo.
is this what the nra means by given the good guys guns
Just another episode of liberal interpretation of the tragic Gun Violence!
Mmmm...did the PD just proof what Dorner stated all along?
Another tragedy in our post-9/11 era of police militarization fed by the drug war. How do we select and train police to use force the way in which we would like them to. Follow the blog of a veteran police leader at
Big City Cops are in a war zone where they are afraid most of the time. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the cops were afraid well before they became cops. These people will fit into one of two categories. One: They were bullied and have a chip on their shoulder that the Gun and Badge helps them to compensate, or two they were the oversized bullies that were so insecure that they spent their lives using their size to intimidate others. These cowards learned that Sam Colt made al men equal and the high School Bully was forced to seek other methods of intimidation. However, when they allowed common citizens to go armed, it took some of the juice from their power base. I was pulled over one day by a cop for nothing, he just decided to mess with me arbitrarily.
In Texas, when you have a CHL, you are forced to show it along witht he Drivers License. When the Cop saw the CHL, his demeanor immediately changed from a stance of superiority and belligerence to what I would call fear.
His Veins on his face stood out, and the Carotid Artery on his neck was pounding through the skin. His face became flushed and seemed top not be able to speak. He just handed the IDs back and walked away.
This is an isolated incident because most Cops that I have seen in similar situations were polite and even chatted me up about the shooting sports. But there is no way you can predict how an individual will react in a given situation. I am pretty sure these cops will get a fine job at Walmart or McDonalds. I feel it is important that anyone who carries should be trained in real life combat situations as in Hogan's alley using paint balls.
But as we have seen in New york, and chicago, the Street gangs are in charge. Until we clear the streets of their ilk, the streets will remain combat zones.
Lazarus
Human beings are falible. What needs to happen here is a through "post mortem"and training in how to prevent it from happening again. The way to predict behavior is continual rehearsal. Rehersal in the form of training, ingrains reactions from ST memory into LT storage. Since humans fall back on their training in stressful confrontation, rehersal is the strongest predictor of learning. Unfortunately, as with any job, "bad apples" will fall through the cracks and some people will not be able to withstand the stress but that should not sully the reputations and distinguished service of most Police. I am truly sorry for this terrible incident and hope the victims recover as fully as possible...
Everyone, be careful. The concequences of actions can be devastating. Fractions of seconds count. Use them to quickly assess and then act. I will not say why, but, I know..
What!!!!! A second shooting less thatn 30 mintues later ont the wrong vehilce. Clearly, they want Dorner dead and have no intentions on bringing him in alive when the cops just start shoooting up random vehicles.
I am watching the news and all they can talk about is the protection of the police, the mayor of L.A. and the police swine chief have not mention the crime against the citizens of L.A. So WAKE UP! and don't BELIEVE THE HYPE! CNN talks is reporting about the fear of that the police gang, and not the fear the police have put into the people of California. Damn I hate our Media!
When people fear the government there is tyranny
When the government fears the people there is liberty
Thomas Jefferson
I am just glad i don't live there as i drive the same kind of pick up and as i am male (white) but i think that it wouldn't have mattered to them as they where on a hunt for the one that killed a fellow officer and that is all they cared about as the rest of us is just civilians that got in their way.
To protect and serve!
Wow! Way to blunder another one, California law enforcement. *claps* And we all thought Washington cops were the worst...
i swear some lapd cops are fxxxn dumb how do u mistake an identity if the person u looking for is a fxxxng guy and them are woman and the trucks dont match in color... and it being the second mistake....
Greed just as Justice is blind! Sorry folks its time to take the blindfold off Lady J.
These cops were so scared they would fire on anyone, scared of there own shadow and the Captain who held up in his house refusing to come out. Are you kidding me, who are they suppose to PROTEC AND SERVE. A disgrace to the uniform if that uniform even means anything after what the LAPD has done to there reputatation over the years.
Why aren't these cops in jail? Oh, I remember, they are above the law.
Are you kidding me??!! These fools fired on vehicles that "looked like" Dorner's WITHOUT FIRST IDENTIFYING WHO WAS INSIDE!! That is absolutely inexcuseable. These boneheads have no business walking around with weapons. They should be fired!
I hope they get a HUGE settlement. They are a victim of police gun violence. The cops should be sure of what they are shooting at. Like the New York cops who fired 17 shots at a suspect hitting him 10 times and they got 9 civilians as well. You first identify your target and then shoot. Not the other way around. A civillian would be charged but I bet the cops aren't.
Those cops need to have their badges taken away for good. They are too stupid to be police officers. The city will be opening up a pretty big wallet for this f**k up.
Don't care how 'jittery' these cops were. WE WERE ALL JITTERY. Rogue cop, don't know where he is at gives "ABSOLUTELY NO REASON" to shoot two (two heads) ladies. DUH and probably newspapers in the back of the truck. My father in law was a Chief of Police (now deceased) where Dahmer only lived less than a mile from the department. You just don't start 'shooting' until you check out the vehicle (lots of cops there) get them out of the truck and talk to them. Neither one should have EVER been considered a vehicle to shoot at. You know and I know if a cop told me to stop and slowly get out of my car-that is what I would have done not being Dorner. A bad thing putting two ladies in jeopardy. It's a hard life being a cop-caution is the Word of the Day-take deep breaths is healthy
Obviously by now any "investigation" is complete. I will tell you what has been learned. One of the cops was over eager to be a hero and opened fire. The rest of them wanted in on a "righteous kill" and joined in. No information has been released because the cops haven't figured out how to spin the story in a way that presents the trigger happy gunmen in a positive light.
And some folk think that only the police should be armed. No thankyou.
It looks like we need to take the guns away from the cops. In all seriousness these BOZOs need to be replaced, fired , retrained as mosquito control officers, maybe, if they pass the mosquito killing test.
Now isn't it attempted murder against the cops that shot the 2 woman. Regardless where is my 1 million dollars for letting LAPD know where dorner was located at.
The LAPD is so corrupt it makes me sick.. How many innocent people have they killed just to get this one guy? R.I.P...
just goes to show you, the rights we think we have don't exsist at all.... these guys didn't even try to id the suspect, just opened fire, kinda like a gang war... personally, I would have returned fire