The last few weeks for La Palma Police Chief Eric Nunez have been tense. He and his family endured 24-hour protection after being mentioned in Christopher Dorner's manifesto.

Though Dorner praised Nunez, the possibility that the fugitive ex-police officer would reach out to him amid the massive manhunt was ominous.

"My wife was obviously very worried,” Nunez said. “I tried to convince her that it is very unlikely that we would have any contact, but we did make a plan."

In an 11,400-word document published online, Dorner wrote this about Nunez: "You're just an awesome person and my first exposure to what law enforcement was really about."

Nunez said he was “reeling” trying to make sense of Dorner’s alleged rampage that left four dead, including two law enforcement officials and a newly engaged couple.

Nunez said Dorner was part of the department's police explorer volunteer program while at Kennedy High School and that he would visit once a year.

"The Chris Dorner that I knew back when he was an explorer here and going through college then going through the Navy wouldn't have done the horrendous acts that he did, would not have been the cold-blooded calculated murderer," Nunez said.

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Nunez explained that he had not heard from Dorner for two years until a package was dropped off at his office on Jan. 23. It contained a note explaining that Dorner did not lie during the investigation that led to his dismissal from the LAPD and a video of one of the interrogations.

"I barely had some inclination that he had been terminated or that he was no longer with LAPD but I had no context of the nature of that investigation was or anything," Nunez said.

"I really didn't even know what this was actually about until I read the manifesto," he added.

'Unfathomable'
He said he first read the manifesto when members of the Irvine Police Department arrived to his offices asking him about Dorner. Detectives were investigating the deaths of newly engaged couple Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan, the daughter of a former LAPD captain targeted in Dorner’s manifesto.

"It’s unfathomable. Even the first call that I got telling me that I was named in this manifesto and they wanted to talk to me about it and they told me who their suspect is, the Irvine Police Department, and my head is reeling because I am thinking how is that even possible?" Nunez said.

He turned over the package and its contents to the investigators.

Days after Nunez received the package, Dorner allegedly went on a shooting spree that killed Riverside police Officer Michael Crain. Nunez went to Crain’s funeral and, like the entire Southland law enforcement community, is now mourning the loss of two brothers.

San Bernandino Sheriff Detective Jeremiah MacKay was killed this week in a final gunbattle with Dorner before the 33-year old ex-LAPD officer died in a burning cabin in which he barricaded himself.

Two other members of law enforcement were wounded.

But what sets Nunez apart is his connection to Dorner.

"Whatever relief you might feel was [mixed] with deep sadness that came at the cost of another officer’s life," he said. "Everybody that has been touched by this is trying to figure out what went wrong."

Related: 

Body of ex-LAPD gunman identified in charred cabin

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LOS ANGELES -- A brawl at a punk rock concert spilled out into the parking lot and ended with one man fatally shot and another man stabbed, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The incidents happened about 12:15 a.m. Sunday (3:15 a.m ET) at Alpine Village Center in Torrance, Calif., Deputy Irys Alvarez said.

"These two incidents of violence are likely separate crimes occurring at the same venue. Each incident is believed to involve a separate suspect," according to an LASD update released Sunday.

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According to deputies, Oxnard-based punk band Agression was headlining the event. 

Alpine Village Center offers dining, concerts, swap meets and other entertainment.

Sandy Huffaker / AP file

In this photo taken Oct. 22, 2010, Jeff Hall holds a neo-Nazi flag while standing at Sycamore Highlands Park near his home in Riverside, Calif.

A 12-year-old was found responsible for the second-degree murder of his father, a regional director of a neo-Nazi organization, a judge ruled Monday.

The "responsible" verdict is the juvenile court equivalent of guilty.

Riverside Superior Court Judge Jean Leonard acknowledged the boy's "long history of abuse and neglect." The case was heard without a jury.

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Leonard agreed with a psychologist who testified during trial that for the boy, "the potential for violence could have been predicted" based on prenatal substance abuse by the mother, domestic violence between parents and the father's neo-Nazi philosophy.

Leonard said she considered the boy's age, the circumstance of the crime, the boy's experience, including family and mental condition, and his understanding of the crime.

"This was not a naive boy," Leonard said. "(He) knew about hate" and "knew what he was doing was wrong at the time of the crime."

Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 15.

In May 2011, the then 10-year-old boy shot and killed his father Jeff Hall with a .357 Magnum at pointblank range. The 32-year-old was asleep on the family's couch at the time of his death.

The child pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Prosecutors argued that the boy had a history of violence and told his younger sister two days before the shooting that he planned to kill his father.

LOS ANGELES — A baby girl was recovering at home Tuesday night after falling head first into a toilet and nearly drowning, according to authorities.

The baby was playing with her toddler sister at a home in the San Fernando Valley when the incident happened, Los Angeles police said. The door was locked and the older sister was crying for help.

The girls' mother kicked the bathroom's door in, and found her baby girl head first in the toilet, Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Scott Harrelson told the LA Daily News.

"The mother then kicked the door open and saw the infant head-down in the toilet," Harrelson told the newspaper.

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Harrelson was unavailable to provide details to NBC4 Tuesday afternoon, but LAPD's Media Relations Division confirmed the report.

The child's mother told NBC4 Tuesday night that she is a nurse, and was able to perform CPR on the child. 

"The baby was blue but slightly breathing," Harrelson told the Daily News. "The officers were able to open up her airways and she started to cry, which means she was responsive."

The baby girl was transported via Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter, which had landed at Sun Valley Middle School, LAFD spokesman Erik Scott said.

The child was hospitalized in serious condition but was later released.

A bungling burglar left footprints, fingerprints, and even photos of himself at a Los Angeles home, police said.

Lt. Paul Vernon said the man kicked in the front door of a house in Arleta on Nov. 13 and started to ransack a bedroom.

The burglar made so much noise that he awoke the owner, who had been asleep in another room, Vernon said.

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He then begged the owner not to call police and ran out to his car – which wouldn’t start, the LAPD said in a press release.

He then came back into the house, again asking the residents not to call police. The man who owned the house chased the burglar out of the house, police said, and hit him with a gardening hoe while his wife called police.

The burglar was knocked out by the blow from the homeowner, but soon revived and walked away. He left his car in the driveway – full of his own property as well as electronics that may have been stolen from other homes, police said.

Among the items found: an iPad with the suspect's photographs on it and a traffic ticket bearing his name, police said.

Authorities identified the suspect as Miguel Luna, 25.

“It’s often said in forensics that we always leave a little bit of ourselves behind anywhere we’ve been,” said Vernon, commanding officer of Mission Detective Division. “But this guy must have set some record on the variety and amount of evidence he left.”

Police described the case as "a study in how to get caught."

An ex-employee of a real estate company shot his former boss in the head Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles, according to police.

The victim, who has not been named, was in a critical condition in a hospital Thursday.

The shooting happened at Venture Commercial Realty on the fourth floor of a high-rise building in Koreatown.

Fire officials received a report of shots fired at about 3:45 p.m. local time (6:45 p.m. ET).

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LAPD Sgt. Dino Caldera said that officers had gone room-to-room in the building, searching for the gunman.

"Officers responded … to what they believed at that time was an active shooter-site type of situation," he said. "So they used those kind of tactics to go into the building and clear the rooms as they entered."

The suspect put his hands up when confronted by police and was arrested. He was expected to be booked on a charge of attempted murder.

LOS ANGELES -- At least three people were shot during Halloween celebrations that became unruly in Hollywood late Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The shooting occurred shortly before 10 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Whitley Avenue, Los Angeles police Sgt. Andrew Chao told City News Service.

A 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest and leg, and taken to the hospital in critical condition, Chao told CNS. A 14-year-old boy was shot in the foot and a 25-year-old man was struck in the buttocks, Chao said. The pair was transported to the hospital.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooter or shooters were apprehended, though aerial footage of the scene showed at least two people being detained by LAPD officers.

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Officers were already deployed in the area due to Halloween celebrations. Unruly crowds began to form up and down Hollywood Boulevard throughout the night, and it appeared that as soon as officers stabilized one area, another area would erupt in violence. Early reports suggested revelers were fighting and throwing bottles.

Dozens of cops in riot gear started responding to Hollywood and Highland shortly after 10 p.m.

Largely-costumed crowds spilled into traffic, ran in between cars and confronted officers starting as early as 9:30 p.m.

A skirmish line of mounted officers was briefly stationed at the intersection of Hollywood and Wilcox. Throngs of officers on mounted patrol, bicycles and motorcycles descended on the area. Several LAFD crews were also on scene.

Halloween celebrations in Hollywood pale in comparison to those in adjacent West Hollywood, where some 400,000 people were expected to attend the annual Costume Carnaval.

Still, Hollywood has become an increasingly popular spot for Halloween revelers and hundreds lined the streets Wednesday night.