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Handout / Reuters
A frame grab from KNBC4 TV aerial footage shows smoke and fire from a cabin where fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded in Big Bear, California February 12, 2013. Dorner exchanged gunfire on Tuesday with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles after he broke into a home, tied up a couple and stole their pickup truck, authorities said.
Investigators discovered charred human remains late Tuesday within a torched California mountain cabin where police sources say ex-cop Christopher Dorner barricaded himself after a deadly shootout with sheriff’s deputies.
In a statement, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said that identification would be attempted "through forensic means."
Earlier, San Bernardino Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said authorities believed the suspect was still inside the cabin when the inferno began.
Gunfire erupted during the hunt for former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner, who was charged with murder on Monday. The unfolding drama brought officers to a cabin in the mountains where the suspect was barricaded inside. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
The hulking former lawman declared war on the LAPD in an online manifesto because he was fired four years ago. Accused of killing three people between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7, he was the target of the biggest manhunt in Los Angeles history.
A day of dramatic and tragic developments began after police received a report around 12:22 p.m. Tuesday that someone fitting Dorner’s description had stolen a car from a home near the ski resort area of Big Bear, police said.
The car owner told NBCLosAngeles.com that a man who looked like Dorner came up to him with a rifle and demanded his pickup, and let him take his dogs out of the back before he fled.
A ground and air search ensued, and authorities located the pickup on Highway 38.
A spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game said one of its wardens was the “very first person to spot Mr. Dorner … They both got out of the vehicles and exchanged gunfire.”
Check out more coverage on NBCLosAngeles.com
The warden’s truck was riddled with bullets but he was not hurt, agency spokesman Andrew Hughan told NBCLosAngeles.com.
Dorner, who was already wanted for three slayings linked to a revenge-fueled rampage, “fled into the forest and barricaded himself inside a cabin,” the San Bernardino Sheriff’s office said in a statement. “A short time later there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect.”
Two deputies were shot and taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where Sheriff John McMahon later confirmed one had died and one was in surgery. Their names were not released.
No more shots were fired from inside the cabin in Angelus Oaks before police demanded Dorner surrender and began preparing to storm the structure, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
A source close to the probe told NBCLosAngeles.com that deputies broke the cabin windows, fired tear gas inside and began breaking down walls with an armored personnel carrier.
The deputies then heard a single gunshot, and soon after flames and smoke could be seen, the source said.
Shortly before 7 p.m. local time, Villaraigosa told Telemundo "it's over," but declined to elaborate.
Hundreds of investigators had spent a week searching for Dorner, who is accused of killing a retired captain’s daughter and her fiancé on Feb. 3 and a police officer on Feb. 7.
His burned-out truck, a Nissan Titan, was found in Big Bear last week and scores of officers have been combing the mountain, going door-to-door to see if they could find signs of forced entry.
At an afternoon press conference, LAPD commander Smith had a message for Dorner: “Enough is enough. It’s time to turn yourself in.”
“Everyone is very hopeful that this thing ends without any further bloodshed,” Smith said. “The best thing for him now would be to surrender … and he can face the criminal justice system.”
Dorner, an ex-cop and Navy reservist detailed his plans and hit list in an online manifesto — a 11,000-word declaration of war against the LAPD in which he makes it clear he would not be taken alive.
“Self Preservation is no longer important to me,” he wrote. “I do not fear death as I died long ago on 1/2/09.”
That’s the date that Dorner got his walking papers from the LAPD after being fired for making a false statement about an officer he accused of brutalizing a suspect.
Police say Dorner exacted revenge on the lawyer who represented him at the internal review, retired captain Randy Quan, by gunning down his daughter, Monica Quan, 28, and her boyfriend, Keith Lawrence, 27, in their car as they returned home to Irvine, Calif., after the Super Bowl.
Four days later, authorities said, Dorner ambushed police officers who were guarding other potential targets in Riverside and Corona, Calif., killing one of them.
LAPD officials said earlier Tuesday they were sifting through 1,000 clues and, including a video that may show the suspect stocking up on scuba gear before the killing spree.
Police confirmed they were even looking into the possibility Dorner had fled to Mexico — the destination he mentioned when he tried to steal a boat in San Diego last Wednesday.
Among the newest leads, a video that was posted on TMZ that appears to show Dorner purchasing scuba equipment at Sport Chalet in Torrance, Calif., on Feb. 1. Neiman said police had not nailed down if it was Dorner and could not say why he would be buying underwater gear.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court last week also revealed that investigators have been tracking an associate of Dorner — someone with the initials J.Y. — whose family has property not far from where Dorner's vehicle was abandoned and torched.
“We will leave no stone unturned to find out if someone was assisting this man in his terrible crimes and eluding capture,” Smith said.
This story was originally published on Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:37 PM EST
Leave a Comment:
Fried "N'..to scared to face life (NO GUTS)..figures!
Fried "N"??? what's the matter? big talking racist like you can't even say the word? You're pathetic.
Dear Comrades,
On news of the heroic death of Social Justice Activist Christopher Dorner, Comrade Party Chairman and President Barack Barackovich Obama has ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff until his remains are brought to Washington DC for interment at Arlington National Cemetery. In addition, three days of official mourning have been ordered, and all non-essential Federal workers have been given paid leave to participate in tribute activities.
Comrade Dorner’s social activism began when he witnessed the oppression and brutalization of a prisoner while he was working as a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. When his pleas for justice were turned around on him and he was denounced by fellow officers to filing a false report, Comrade Dorner quickly escalated his grievance proceedings, leading to further persecution which eventually forced him to engage in armed activities for the sake of the workers and peasants of the USSA.
As aggressive and counter-revolutionary elements entrenched within local police forces resisted his valiant efforts to bring justice to the oppressed masses of Los Angeles, fellow union activists and Party officials spoke out on his behalf. Comrade Charlie Sheen of the Screen Actors Guild endorsed Comrade Dorner’s heroism and offered to assist him in struggle, while Party leader Comrade Jesse Jackson also offered his support.
On hearing news that Comrade Dorner died in an accidental fire at the cottage he was staying at while writing the second volume of his manifesto, Comrade Obama was reported to have said, “If I had a brother who was completely black, he would have looked like Chris.” However, the President is still in grief and has offered no official statement at this time.
Comrade Dorner was a loyal supporter for Comrade Obama, and spoke out against the bourgeois attacked on the President. Many expected that the President would mention him during the State of the Union speech given last night, but news of Dorner’s death reached to the President after his speech, which was universally received as a history and visionary soliloquy.
The Department of Social Justice is expected to begin a formal investigation, and patriotic citizens are encouraged to denounce police officials who they know to have oppressed Comrade Dorner.
Justice for Chris Dorner! Purge California police of reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries!
un-huh
Old Chinese saying..STFU!
Justice has failed us all coruption breeds
Had to laugh when my third-grade grandson came home with the latest "in" word among the kids -- STFU pronounced as a word. He had no idea what it meant.
Do you know what didn't stop this bad guy with a gun? Lots of good guys with guns.
Sure sounds like they did to me.
That guy is extra crispy...a tad of hot sauce..LAPD will have a BBQ!
What a party then.
Its CA. style correct?
YO Hollywood....Wake the F**k up
ZzzzzzZzzzzzZzzz
How you tiny little minds could possibly defend this guy is the great mystery of the 21st century.
This guy was never going to be taken alive. No matter how he got fired does not give him the right to kill people. Rodney King was a two bit criminal who resisted arrest. The Police overtepped their authority
and beat him which was caught on camera. They were punished and policies were changed.
We now probably have cameras in police cars because of the Rodney King situation.
There was a race riot because of Rodney King. How many innocent people were beaten because of it.
Police brutality and corruption happens every day in the US. Some is known and much is not.
Police are Human beings. They have yet to find a way to make them robots so they don't go back to their roots. It is Ironic that this whack job used the Rodney King case to partially justify his actions.
Just as a whole city over reacted with Rodney King. Mostly led by criminals.
This guy's dreams of becoming a cop were shattered. That gives him no right to kill people.
People get fired every day. Maybe he was just not good enough or had problems.
His manifesto told of many of his issues. I guess we will find out the real story about why he got fired
some day. The rantings of a nut case are not admissable in court.
You probably wouldn't even be on the computer to rank if it were not for those Dum Azz Democrats in Silicon Valley. California makes dumb decisions just like the rest of the Country. I have no idea what they were thinking when they voted in the Republican Governator . At least he found himself work outside of politics.
Without doing due diligence while hunting for Dorner , two LAPD cops shot up a Tacoma pickup almost killing the two women who were delivering newspaper. Dorner was reported as driving a Nissan Titan. Now several cops shot up a cabin, burning it down, and killing someone inside without identifying the victim. It would be tragic if the forensic reveal the victim is not Dorner.
Regardless whether it was Dorner or not, it still was someone who shot 2 deputies and killing one of them.
Nothing tragic about it. Whoever it was he was a cop killer. But you can rest assured it was Dorner.
You have to love people who make comments without thinking.
"Judge, Jury, and Executioner!" What happened to America's judicial system. They burned the SUSPECT alive, of course they will tell us the SUSPECT killed himself, and they were fired on and they feared for the fireman to put the blaze out. Amazing how they had and wanted full blown media around for six day's, but when they cornered the SUSPECT, they ordered NO MEDIA and Helicopters five miles away. They are no better than the SUSPECT, MURDERERS ! NOTE: FBI, ATF, SWAT, LA Police, Local Police, Sheriff's Department, National guard ETC.ETC., and Fish and Game located the suspect.I'm sorry "Fish and Wildlife" my bad
Your ignorance is astounding.
They were fired on? You need to watch the video of part of the shoot out. Who shot the 2 deputies, killing one?
Clearing the sky over the area is common procedure. You would feel better if they let the helicopters fly around to get shot at by the suspect or keep taking pictures for TV so if the suspect had access to a TV he could watch what law enforcement was doing?
You are an idiot.
You take out rabid animals by whatever means necessary. No sympathy for that murdering freak. He bought the ticket and took the ride.
Who cares? He's dead, that's what counts.
Rambo wannabe is over !!
This has FBI, or CIA written all over it, because the cops don't have the brains to find their arses, from a hole in a donut. I can assure you he was tortured before he died, and an appropriate cover-up story to make him look like the worst murderer on the planet. These corrupt agencies were not looking to bring him in for a trial, but knew ahead of time that they were going to kill him on sight.
Sounds like your foil hat is too tight on your head.
Must be the same agencies that blew up the twin towers on 911
Everyone knows how crooked the LA police department is. Just ask any minority about how they treat them. Or anyone who doesn't follow their so called orders. But, for Dorner to go out and kill people because of what happened to him is wrong. There was a better way to expose the wrongs of this dirty police department. Trying to kill everyone and their family members who was involved in the case was wrong. You can see that he went over the edge about this. I'm just glad this is over. Because we'll never know what really happened 4 years ago about the firing.
Robert, what we do know is Dorner had 2 weeks to report the alledged kicking, but didn't until after he was given an unsatisfactory rating by his "coach", who just so happens to be the one he filed the complaint against. That is all there in the testimony at the hearing and out of Doran's own mouth.
The End
Bless the beast and bless the children...for ALL are our lords subjects.
May it be times of good or times of bad..whatever god you believe in shall take you..all is forgiven.
Let us pray...let us know we are still alive..and not here to kill one another.
amen
If its good enough for Jesus
If its good enough for Jesus
If its good enough for Jesus
No doubt its good enough for US!
What happen to the Big Black Mystery man? What happened to the Great Black Hope? What happened to the Black Rambo? Well now he's DEAD, he's DEAD and burning up. He went out killing another cop. He went out like the scum that he is. He was not the Mystical Beast. Just a coward. So the black community who praised this guy as their hero will have to wait for a new messiah. Better luck next time fools.
A shootout? Why didn't they just have a knife fight?
Reading through all the racist, derogatory and delusional remarks on this message board one would think it populated entirely by members of LAPD or wanna bes. No worries, though. The "bad guy" apparently got his and the cops will be free to go back and do what they do best: violate the Constitution and abuse citizens.
After reading posts on here for the last several days regarding this whole incident with Dorner, I'm truely saddened by the lack of intelligence, knowledge on the subject, and rooting for an obviously mentally disturbed person that was going around killing innocent people. We are supposedly intelligent adults, but I saw very little of that the last few days.
I can only surmise that these same posters would have been rooting for Bonnie and Clyde, Dillinger, Capone, and other killers in our history. It's a pathetic state of affairs.
The worse part of it all is a lot of the comments are based on nothing or the rantings of a mentally disturbed person. Some I would say are just as mentally challenged as Dorner was.
At least now that it's over those people can crawl back under their rocks.
I read his entire uncensored Manifesto and it showed him to be an astute and lucid writer and not at all a mentally challenged or disturbed individual.
If you want to witness mentally disturbed people look to the ranks of the LAPD for massive, historical corruption and racist brutality and/or the Tea Party base of the GOP for sheer lack of intelligence, superstition and bigotry. Compared to either of those groups this guy was a beacon of rationality.
One less murdering lunatic in the world. A job "well done"!
I have never heard of biker gangs going around beating and killing handicap people and mentally ill people, i have only heard of the blue gang doing this.
Then you lead a sheltered life. You need to get out more.
Read the news every single day i see injustice by the ones paid to take care of the people not themselves
Sorry, this is the oldest trick in the book. Pretend to be the one in the house while the place burns down. I know that they will do DNA test but this seems very staged to fake his own death. This guy has watched too many movies.
how did the fire start?! Do some actual reporting nbc!
You aren't serious are you? It's been less then 24 hours since the whole thing started and just a few hours since they have been able to get into the cabin.
What do you think they have? A magic wand to wave around to tell them how the fire started?
Thanks for not thinking before speaking.
When you push a true Tea Patriot too far, this is what you get. Armed resistance against a tyrannical government is supported by the Constitution, yet so few have enough gumption to stand for their rights.
LOL, you're kidding right?
This was just a mentally disturbed person who went on a killing spree. Nothing more, nothing less.
Read the full manifesto,all11,000 words,not what the media cherry picked.
Do you lie on purpose or just ill informed?
I'm sorry for this nut who murdered innocent people to prove his point and pay back that was even worse than and eye for an eye. He was another egomaniac that when thwarted and angered acted out in a rage. Now you can say someone else did this and set up a fake account to make it look like him and just wanted him out of the way, but this is a huge scenario to do this. He ended up proving their point exactly as many abusive people do. He was not fit for his job and actually should have been sent to a mental hospital before all this happened.
John, I'm not particularly interested in what a mentally disturbed person who is going around killing innocent people has to say. I read the Court of Appeals court filings which includes the testimony of all involved, including Dorner. It paints a completely different picture.
Sorry, but your the ill informed since you base your statements solelyon his rantings.
Sorry, Ally-boy, but your miserable attempt at trolling is EPIC FAIL, while your unintentional display of terminal douchebaggery is exactly what results. Every time. So, douchnozzle, keep trolling, and I will keep mocking you.
From the article:
"Shortly before 7 p.m. local time, Villaraigosa told Telemundo "it's over," but declined to elaborate."
"Neiman said police had not nailed down if it was Dorner and could not say why he would be buying underwater gear."
Who are these under-identified dudes (or dudettes) making these comments? I realize there's a rush to get news out, but MSNBC seems to go to extremes to make their stories unintelligible.
And are they ever going to require that all these "unnamed sources close to the investigation" keep their mouths shut about what's going on? Most of them don't know what is going on. If they're so determined to be the first to leak information to the media, they should at least identify themselves. Instead, we get lots of uninformed opinions and false "facts", just like on the Vine :) Isn't anonymity great?
Let's just hope it's him this time and not another innocent citizen. What a bunch of mad dogs we have now. We train our military thugs way more evil than the Nazis were trained, and most of you know how that turned out for some. This is why some don't want to allow the government to take away our automatic weapons. What if a group like this had the OK to try and kill you and your entire family this way for whatever reason? People forget, a killer is a killer and there is supposed to be checks and balances to our justice system or we will end up with so many incidences like this spaced out that no one will be able to report another holocaust, because our government and the reporters will not allow anyone to connect the atrocities to bring a stop to this evil madness. Why do you think other countries are trying to make bombs? They are horribly and rightfully fearful of the mad dogs.
"Military thugs"? That's a pathetic comment. What do you think war is? A little slap and tickle affair?
But this was not war.
DUH.
COP = criminal on the prowl. LAPD = Little A-hole Pervert D-k. Christopher Dorner was a freedom fighter. Off the pigs! American cops are evil incarnate, a clear and present danger to ordinary citizens.
The shows over. You can crawl back under your rock now.
Does your mommy know you're trolling Newsvine? BTW, troll = EPIC FAIL! You should resume doing what you do best, Otto - playing pocket pool and other ways of touching yourself inappropriately in public venues. At least you'd get out of your mommy's basement for a while, and maybe getting a good beating once in a while.