• Hunt for fugitive ex-cop: Charred human remains found in burned cabin

    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.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    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

  • Manhunt resumes for ex-LAPD officer on four-year anniversary of his firing

    The search for Christopher Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer accused in a string of revenge murders entered its third day Saturday, authorities said, exactly four years after his dismissal from the LAPD. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    By Tracy Connor and Andrew Mach, Staff Writers, NBC News

    Updated at 8:42 p.m. ET: The search for Christopher Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer accused in a string of revenge murders entered its third day Saturday in the snowy mountains of San Bernardino, Calif., authorities said, exactly four years after his dismissal from the LAPD.


    Police say they believe Dorner is on a mission to execute former LAPD colleagues and superiors and their families to avenge his 2009 firing. They believe he murdered a retired captain’s daughter and her fiancé in Irvine, Calif., on Sunday, then killed one cop and wounded two others in shootings Thursday.

    In an interview with San Francisco's KCBS, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Saturday that the department would re-examine the details that led to Dorner's dismissal.

    Police spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Smith said the decision was made to ensure the public the LAPD is "fair and transparent" on Dorner's firing.

    Dorner accused his training officer in August 2007 of kicking a mentally ill man during an arrest in San Pedro. An internal affairs investigation into his accusations concluded that the training officer had not kicked the mentally ill man and that Dorner's statements were false. He was later notified that he would be fired for making false statements.

    Dorner's former boss and L.A. police chief from 2002 to 2009, William Bratton, said earlier that Saturday marked an important date in Dorner's history.

    "Four years ago he received his discharge papers, if you will, his dismissal papers on Feb. 9, 2009," Bratton said. "A day of significance certainly in his mind that inasmuch as his grievances all seem to center on his dismissal."

    A joint task force was established to continue the search for Dorner. The task force includes the Irvine Police Department, Riverside Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshall Service, Los Angeles Police Department and other allied agencies.

    Los Angeles police deputies continued the manhunt at daybreak after relentless snowfall Friday evening forced them to suspend the search.

    Los Angeles Police Chief William Braton, who was once the boss of Christopher Dorner, said Dorner is an "injustice collector" who finally reached a tipping point.

    Bratton said it was clear to him that the triggering event in Dorner's life was his dismissal from the LAPD and said it was doubtful that he would give up and turn himself into police.

    "He collects injustices and he never lets them go, and evidently they finally reached a tipping point that led to the series of violent acts the last several days," Bratton said. "The last thing that he would want would be to be arrested by the LAPD and do a perp walk. That would be the last injustice, the most significant one."

    SWAT teams in camouflage began scouring the mountains Thursday after they found Dorner's burned-out Nissan near a ski resort in Big Bear Lake, about two hours from Los Angeles.

    "It's extremely dangerous," San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said at a news conference Friday, after more than 100 law enforcement officials scoured an 8-square-mile area using police dogs, snowmobiles and armored cars with chains to help navigate the terrain. 

    Sheriff's officials said the search would continue until Dorner was located or evidence was found indicating he was no longer in the Big Bear area, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

    Michael Goulding / Zuma Press

    With gun drawn, two California Highway Patrol officers check the cargo of a truck leaving the Big Bear Lake area during a manhunt for Christopher Dorner who is suspected of the killing three people.

    Police said they believe Dorner was acting on an online manifesto in which he baited authorities.

    "Any threat assessments you generate will be useless," it read. "I have the strength and benefits of being unpredictable, unconventional, and unforgiving."

    McMahon acknowledged that the hunt for a man who is effectively hunting them could be nerve-wracking.

    "This business is not always safe," he said. "But this is what we train for."

    Meanwhile, an attorney for two women who were shot by police during the search for Dorner said that the women met Saturday with Beck, who apologized.

    Emma Hernandez, 71, was with her daughter Margie Carranza, 47, delivering newspapers in Torrance early Thursday when police opened fire on their truck. Hernandez was hit twice in her back and Carranza was injured by flying glass.

    Attorney Glen Jonas said that the family appreciated the apology. Police said Beck was making arrangements to replace the women's truck.

    Related:

  • Police search mountains for LAPD murder suspect Christopher Dorner, release new image

    Irvine Police Department

    This Jan. 28 image shows Christopher Dorner, police say. It was taken by a surveillance video camera at an Orange County hotel.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Updated at 8:51 p.m. ET: Dozens of police officers went door-to-door in the snowy California mountains on Friday, searching 200 cabins and other buildings for ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner, suspected of killing three people in a revenge-fueled rampage he mapped out in an online manifesto.


    Meanwhile, investigators released a new image of Dorner and searched the home of Dorner's mother, who police said was cooperating.

    The image of Dorner was taken Jan. 28 by a surveillance video camera at an Orange County hotel, police say.

    The search was focused on the mountains, where "it's extremely dangerous," San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said at a news conference Friday after more than 100 cops spent a tense night and day patrolling around the town of Big Bear Lake, where Dorner's burned-out truck was found a day earlier. 

    The search was suspended Friday evening, and was set to resume on the ground at 7 a.m. PT Saturday, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

    Police say Dorner, 33, is on a mission to execute former LAPD colleagues and superiors and their families to avenge his 2008 firing. They believe he murdered a retired captain's daughter and her fiance in Irvine on Sunday, then killed one cop and wounded two others in shootings Thursday.

    Chris Carlson / AP

    San Bernardino sheriff's Officer Steven Spagon mans a checkpoint during the search for fired Los Angeles officer Christopher Dorner in Big Bear Lake, Calif.

    More coverage from NBCLosAngeles.com

    The manhunt led investigators to the Big Bear ski resort, about two hours from Los Angeles, where the burning hulk of his dark-gray Nissan was discovered with footprints leading to two forest roads.

    Police followed the tracks until they lost them on frozen ground. They said they have no idea if Dorner is still in the area or if he left the mountain on foot or with a different vehicle.

    All night and into the next day, SWAT teams piled into snowcats and armored personnel carriers with snowchains and drove through eight square miles of mountain, checking cabins for signs of forced entry.

    "We want to make sure he didn't find a place to hide for the night," McMahon said. "Certainly there has been time to get out of here, but we don't know if he has, in fact, left."

    With the heavily armed suspect eluding capture for a second day, schools were closed Friday, though the ski resorts were open.

    Credit: Los Angeles Police Dept. newsletter via NBCLosAngeles

    This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner.

    “There is no panic,” said Big Bear Mayor Jay Obernolte. “We're very hardy residents…and many people are armed.”

    He said his biggest concern was that a gun-toting resident might spot Dorner and try to take him on themselves. He urged everyone to keep their distance from Dorner and call police for help.

    The sheriff acknowledged that the hunt for a man who is effectively hunting them could be nerve-wracking.

    "This business is not always safe," he said. "But this is what we train for."

    Ex-cop's mom, sister cooperating
    Friday afternoon, Irvine and La Palma police, joined by U.S. marshals, were at the home of Dorner's mother in La Palma, a small city in Orange County about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

    Dorner's mother and sister were at the home and were cooperating, officials told NBC 4 of Los Angeles.

    "I knew they were here for something," neighbor David Pighin said. "I thought maybe he was coming back to say goodbye to his mother."

    The LAPD believes Dorner, who is 6 feet and 270 pounds, has an arsenal of weapons that includes assault rifles.

    Dorner earned a ribbon for rifle marksmanship and a medal for pistol expertise in the Navy Reserve, where he was a lieutenant until his honorable discharge last week. Two bases in Nevada and California where Dorner worked were on heightened security over concerns that he might still have his military ID.;

    Dorner worked at Fallon Naval Air Station, Nev., from March to November 2009, Zip Upham, a spokesman at Fallon, told NBC News. He also oversaw some security operations at Stead Air Force Base, Calif.

    Dorner previously served in the LAPD from 2005 to 2008 and was fired for making false statements after he accused a training officer of brutalizing a man.

    During an internal review, he was represented by Randal Quan, a retired captain. His daughter Monica Quan, 28, and her fiancé, Keith Lawrence, 27, were fatally shot while parking their car at their apartment complex after a Super Bowl party.

    In the 11,300-word manifesto, Dorner vented his rage at Quan and other police officials and made it clear he had no compunction about killing their loved ones.

    "I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m terminating yours," he wrote in one chilling passage.

    The father of the man who was allegedly roughed up by the training officer told NBCLosAngeles.com that he thought Dorner made too big a deal of the 2007 incident by filing a formal accusation.

    “He stood up for what he thought was right,” he said. “You could tell by the look on his face he was just a young, idealistic kid, who was proud of the badge," Richard Gettler said. "I commended him first. Then I got close to him and said, 'What is wrong with you? Weren't you thinking? ... It's the three musketeers, all for one and one for all!'"

    Gettler called the recent killings horrible and urged Dorner to turn himself in.

    "Back then, when he became a police officer, he wanted to do good," Gettler said.

    Read suspect's manifesto

    In the manifesto, Dorner suggests that he believes he will be killed during his spree, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck appealed to him to surrender.

    "This has gone far enough," Beck said Thursday night. "No one else needs to die."

    M. Alex Johnson and vivian Kim of NBC News contributed to this report.

    Related:

    The tense search for a former cop who police say killed three people and vowed to murder more continued for a second day. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.


  • Women shot by cops were just delivering papers

    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.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    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