Hunt for killer cop Dorner: Single gunshot heard as cabin goes up in flames

The extraordinary manhunt for the former Los Angeles policeman suspected of three murders converged on a mountain cabin where it is believed he barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shoot-out that killed a deputy and never emerged as the home went up in flames.

A single gunshot was heard from within.

There were conflicting reports about whether a body had been found inside shortly after the fire, with both the Los Angeles and San Bernardino authorities disputing the find in separate news conferences.

But an official who requested anonymity because of the continuing investigation later told news agency the Associated Press that a body had been seen in the rubble.

If the man inside proves to be Christopher Dorner, the search for the most wanted man in America over the last week would have ended the way he had expected – in death – with the police pursuing him.

Thousands of officers had been hunting for the former US Navy reservist since police said he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for sacking him.

They say he threatened to bring “warfare” to officers and their families, spreading fear and setting off a search for him across the Southwest and Mexico.

“Enough is enough. It’s time for you to turn yourself in. It’s time to stop the bloodshed,” LAPD commander Andrew Smith said outside police headquarters in Los Angeles.

A short time later, smoke began to rise from the cabin in the snow-covered woods near Big Bear Lake, a resort town about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. Flames then engulfed the building – images that were broadcast on live television around the world.

TV helicopters showed the fire burning freely with no apparent effort to extinguish it.

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“We have reason to believe that it is him (Dorner),” said San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman. She noted there was gunfire between the person in the cabin and officers around the home before the blaze began.

Until yesterday, authorities did not know whether Dorner was still near Big Bear Lake, where they found his burned-out pick-up truck last week.

'Surrender or come out.'

At around 12.20pm local time, deputies received a report of a stolen pick-up truck, directly across the street from where law enforcement set up their command post last Thursday and not far from where Dorner’s vehicle was abandoned. The owner of the stolen truck described the suspect as looking similar to Dorner.

A warden for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife travelling down Highway 38 recognised a man who fitted Dorner’s description travelling in the opposite direction. The officer pursued the vehicle and there was a shooting at 12.42pm, in which the wildlife vehicle was hit several times and the suspect escaped on foot after crashing his truck.

After barricading himself in the cabin, there was a second gun battle with San Bernardino County deputies, two of whom were shot. One died and the other underwent surgery.

A SWAT team had earlier surrounded the cabin and using an armoured vehicle, broke the windows, the official said. The officers then pumped gas into the cabin and blasted a message over a loudspeaker: “Surrender or come out.”

The SWAT vehicle then tore down each of the cabin’s four walls, like peeling back the layers of an onion, the source said.

Police say Dorner began his run on February 6 after they connected the murders of a former police captain’s daughter and her fiance with an angry Facebook rant they said he posted. Threats against the LAPD led officials to assign officers to protect officers and their families.

Within hours of the release of photos of Dorner, described as armed and “extremely dangerous”, police say he 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 the targets named in the rant in Torrance last Thursday shot and injured two women delivering newspapers because they mistook their pick-up truck for Dorner’s.

Police found charred weapons and camping gear inside the truck in Big Bear.

Helicopters using heat-seeking technology searched the forest from above while scores of officers, some using bloodhounds, scoured the ground and checked hundreds of vacation cabins – many vacant this time of year – in the area.

Dorner’s anger with the department dated back at least five years, when he was sacked for filing a false report accusing his training officer of kicking a mentally ill suspect. Dorner, who is black, claimed in the rant that he was the subject of racism by the department and fired for doing the right thing.

He said he would get even with those who wronged him as part of his plan to reclaim his good name.

“You’re going to see what a whistleblower can do when you take everything from him especially his NAME!!!” he wrote. “You have awoken a sleeping giant.”

Chief Charlie Beck, who initially dismissed the allegations in the rant, said he would reopen the investigation into his sacking – not to appease the ex-officer, but to restore confidence in the black community, which long had a fractured relationship with police that has improved in recent years.

One of the targets listed in the manifesto was former LAPD captain Randal Quan, who represented Dorner before the disciplinary board. Dorner claimed he put the interests of the department above his.

The first victims were Capt Quan’s daughter Monica 28, a college basketball coach, and her fiance Keith Lawrence, 27. They were shot several times in their car in a parking garage near their condominium.

Dorner served in the navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007.