America has been enthralled in the manhunt lasting for days for a revenge-seeking ex-cop, Christopher Dorner. Police have searched high (literally, in mountain peaks) and low, using every technique possible including bloodhounds and high-tech helicopters. Dorner did so well hiding among them, holed up in a vacation cabin across from a command post.
It was there that Dorner took refuge last Thursday, four days after beginning a deadly rampage that would claim four lives. According to an Associated Press report, the search apparently ended Tuesday when a man believed to be Dorner bolted from hiding, stole two cars, barricaded himself in a vacant cabin and had a shootout with cops that killed one sheriff's deputy and wounded another before the building burst into flames. A single gun shot was heard inside the cabin before the fire.
The man never came out of the ruins and hours later a charred body was found in the basement of the cabin with a wallet and personal items, including a California driver's license with Dorner's name, officials said. San Bernadino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said," We have reason to believe that it is him."
LAPD Lt. Andrew Neiman told news outlets today that the department has returned to normal patrol operations. (View an AP video here.) The rampage stems from a lengthy rant by Dorner, 33, posted on Facebook that he expected to die in one final, violent confrontation with police. If that was him in the cabin, his expectation was met. Police offered a $1 million reward for Dorner to end a "reign of terror" that had more than 50 families of targeted LAPD officers under protection after Dorner vowed to bring "warfare" to the LAPD, officers and their families.
Now, Chief Charlie Beck-who initially dismissed Dorner's allegations-said he would reopen the case to restore confidence in the black community that has had a long fractured relationship with police.
Some background history for you:
Police said Dorner began his run on Feb. 6 after they connected the slayings of a former police captain's daughter and her fiance with Dorner's angry manifesto, according to the AP report. Dorner blamed LAPD Captain Randal Quan for providing poor representation before the police disciplinary board that fired him for filing a false report. Dorner claimed in his online rant that he was the subject of racism by the department and was targeted for doing the right thing and vowed to get revenge. "You're going to see what a whistleblower can do when you take everything from him especially his NAME!!!" Dorner said. "You have awoken a sleeping giant."
Within hours of being named as a suspect in the killings, the 6-foot, 270-pound Dorner tried to steal a boat in San Diego to flee to Mexico. After leaving a trail of evidence, he headed north where he opened fire on two patrol cars in Riverside County, shooting three officers and killing one. He managed to get to the mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles where his burning truck was found. With more than 1,000 tips with no sign of Dorner, word came that a man matching his discription had tied up two people in a Big Bear Lake cabin, stole their car and fled. Then, Dorner allegedly stole a pickup truck after crashing the first car, and opened fire on game wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Now it looks like the worst is over, Dorner could be dead. But if he isn't what do you think will happen next?
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