Fugitive cop under siege

A fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings was barricaded in a cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains last night after a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says two law enforcement officers were airlifted to a local hospital with unknown injuries.

Deputies in the Big Bear area looking for Christopher Dorner responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in the area about 12.20pm, the sheriff’s office said.

The people whose vehicle was stolen described the suspect as looking very similar to Dorner. The vehicle was found and the suspect, believed to be Dorner, ran into the forest and barricaded himself inside a cabin. A short time later there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement offices and the suspect.

It is believed Dorner committed a residential burglary of a cabin where a couple was tied up, an officer told AP. One of the people was able to get away and make a call.

The area is in the Big Bear region where a search for Dorner has been under way since his pickup truck was found there on Thursday.

A KCAL-TV reporter in the Angelus Oaks area along Highway 38 reported gunfire in his vicinity.

The noise of the gunbattle was broadcast by the station, whose reporter suddenly found himself near the fight. Someone could be heard yelling at the reporter to get out of the area. Road blocks were up around Big Bear.

The former Navy reservist began his run from the law on Feb 6 after authorities connected the slayings of a former police captain’s daughter and her fiance with an angry manifesto they said Dorner posted on Facebook.

He vowed to bring “warfare” to Los Angeles police and their family members, which led the department to assign officers to guard more than 50 families connected to his so-called targets.

Within hours of the release of photos of the 6ft, 270-pounder described as armed and extremely dangerous, Dorner allegedly unsuccessfully tried to steal a boat in San Diego to flee to Mexico and then ambushed police in Riverside County, shooting three and killing one. Jumpy officers guarding one of his targets in Torrance on Thursday shot and injured two women delivering newspapers because they mistook their pickup truck for Dorner’s.

He said he would get even with those who wronged him in an event to reclaim his good name.