Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Chronology of Events at The Death of Christopher Dorner

Medical examiners have positively identified the body of the renegade former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, the man authorities say killed four people and wounded three others in a vendetta against his old comrades.

That announcement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department came two days after a shootout, standoff and fire at a cabin in the mountains east of Los Angeles. Dorner's remains were identified through dental records during an autopsy, the department said.

The charred remains of a man believed to be Dorner were found in the burned cabin late Tuesday. The cause of death was not released with the identification.

Dorner was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2009 for falsely accusing his training officer of kicking a subdued suspect. After unsuccessfully challenging his dismissal in court, police say, he launched a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the LAPD, targeting numerous officers involved in his case and their families.

Former girlfriend: Dorner was stressed out
Questions about police audio before fire
Weighing Dorner's complaints about LAPD
Dorner's ex: 'Something wasn't right'
Dorner hostages: We thought he'd kill us

Dorner was cornered and died Tuesday afternoon in the San Bernardino Mountains, about 100 miles east of the city he had once sworn to protect and serve.

The 33-year-old former Navy officer holed up in the cabin after a shootout with law enforcement that left a sheriff's deputy dead and another wounded, San Bernardino Sheriff John McMahon said.

The cabin caught fire when police shot tear gas canisters into it, McMahon told reporters Wednesday.

Although the canisters included pyrotechnic tear gas, which generates heat, "We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out," he said.

The city of Los Angeles and other communities in southern California had issued a $1 million reward for information leading to Dorner's capture and conviction. What to do with that reward was under discussion Thursday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said.

"More than 20 jurisdictions and entities are involved in this reward, so all of them will be coming together to collectively determine whether any individual or individuals qualify for it,'" they said in a joint statement. "Our personal hope is that the reward will be distributed, but we must follow the rules and respect the procedures of each entity."

Dorner's mother, Nancy Dorner, expressed condolences for the victims in a statement given to Robin Sax at Fox 11 Los Angeles.

"It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we express our deepest sympathies and condolences to anyone that suffered losses or injuries resulting from Christopher's actions. We do not condone Christopher's actions.

The family has no further comments and ask that our privacy be respected during this difficult time."

Dorner was first named a suspect in two shooting deaths on February 3: Monica Quan, the daughter of his police union representative, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence.

Police say he then killed Michael Crain, a police officer in suburban Riverside, and wounded Crain's partner in an ambush on their patrol car February 7. The partner, Officer Andrew Tachias, was in stable condition at a local hospital, Riverside police said.

They say Dorner also wounded an LAPD officer who chased him into nearby Corona.

In addition, LAPD officers guarding one of Dorner's targets in suburban Torrance opened fire on a pickup truck that resembled Dorner's, wounding two women inside. Beck called the shooting "tragic" and "horrific."

In a manifesto announcing his planned rampage, Dorner said nothing had changed in the LAPD since its scandals of the 1990s, the Rodney King beating and the Rampart police corruption case. Those allegations have struck a chord with some who say that, despite the four killings, Dorner was seeking justice.

Shadowed by that history, Beck announced Saturday that the department would re-examine its proceedings against Dorner. The review is "not to appease a murderer," but "to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all things we do," he said.

from : cnn.com

Body in Cabin Is Identified as Christopher Dorner

Who is Christopher Dorner ? was a former LAPD police officer and ex-United States Navy reservist. He is the primary suspect in the 2013 Southern California shootings, a series of shooting attacks on police officers from February 3 to 12 that left four people dead, including two police officers, and four police officers wounded. He was the subject of one of the largest manhunts in LAPD history, one spanning four U.S. states and Mexico. At the time of the shootings, Dorner had been living in La Palma with his mother. Dorner left no children and court records show that his wife had filed for divorce in 2007

Medical examiners have positively identified the body of the renegade former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, the man authorities say killed four people and wounded three others in a vendetta against his old comrades. The scorched body found inside the burned-out cabin near Big Bear Lake where law enforcement officers were caught in a deadly shootout this week has been positively identified as that of Christopher J. Dorner, the authorities announced on Thursday

 Mr. Dorner, 33, a former Los Angeles police officer who the authorities believe killed four people this month, had been the subject of a regionwide manhunt since last week. His body was identified through a dental examination, according to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. No cause of death was given.

The sheriff had already expressed confidence that Mr. Dorner had been killed, after a bloody confrontation on Tuesday that left one San Bernardino sheriff’s deputy dead and another seriously wounded.

“We believe the investigation is over,” John McMahon, the San Bernardino County sheriff, said at a news conference on Wednesday, before the body had been identified.

Mr. Dorner had pledged revenge against law enforcement officers in a manifesto he posted online, which named members of the Los Angeles Police Department as targets. His killing spree began on Feb. 3, when he killed the daughter of a former Los Angeles police captain and her fiancé. He then killed a Riverside police officer on Feb. 7 and wounded another officer.

The manhunt for him intensified that day, when his car was discovered burned in Big Bear Lake, a mountain resort area about 100 miles east of Los Angeles.

But Mr. Dorner did not re-emerge until Tuesday, having apparently hidden in an unoccupied cabin for several days. He stole a vehicle, the authorities said, and eventually crashed it, carjacked another one and then fled into the woods, where he was surrounded in the cabin.  

from : nytimes.com