Near Big Bear Lake, California - Los Angeles police kept watch over some of their own again Wednesday, not ready to let down their guard until investigators can say for sure that the charred human remains found inside a burned mountain cabin are those of Christopher Dorner.
Authorities say it may
take days before they can say if the body found inside the cabin was
Dorner's, the onetime police officer suspected in four killings during a
self-proclaimed guerrilla war on his former compatriots.
While officials were
reluctant to say they were certain they had ended Dorner's vendetta, the
frenzied manhunt, roadblock and helicopter flights that had preceded
the standoff died down Tuesday night.
Los Angeles police also returned to normal patrol operations after days of heightened alert, Lt. Andy Neiman said Wednesday.
But police continued to
protect some of the dozens of police officers and their relatives
threatened by Dorner in a manifesto vowing revenge over his firing from
the Los Angeles Police Department several years ago.
"There's great fear there," Neiman said.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa said that while Dorner's body has not been conclusively
identified, "I can tell you that there is a sigh of relief among the
vast majority of these officers."
Standoff
Tuesday's events came
five days after authorities found Dorner's burned truck on a forest road
near the lake, which is about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Officers
converged on the remote area but the trail went cold for days. On
Sunday, the San Bernardino authorities said they had scaled back the
search.
Los Angeles authorities
had issued a $1 million reward for Dorner's capture. Villaraigosa said
it was too soon to say if anyone would be able to claim the reward.
What may have been the
final act in the Dorner saga began Tuesday, when California Fish and
Wildlife wardens said they spotted Dorner driving a purple Nissan down
icy roads near Big Bear Lake. He was driving very close to some school
buses as if using them as cover, said Lt. Patrick Foy.
No children were on the buses, Foy said.
The wardens, driving in two different vehicles, chased Dorner. A gun battle ensued.
One of the warden's cars was hit, Dorner crashed his car and ran, according to authorities. He then carjacked a pickup truck.
Rick Heltebrake, a camp ranger, said he was driving when he saw the crashed purple truck -- and then something terrifying.
"Here comes this guy
with a big gun and I knew who it was right away," Heltebrake told CNN
affiliate KTLA. "He just came out of the snow at me with his gun at my
head. He said, 'I don't want to hurt you. Just get out of the car and
start walking.'"
Heltebrake said the man let him take his dog and walk away with his hands up.
"Not more than 10
seconds later, I heard a loud round of gunfire," Heltebrake said. "Ten
to 20 rounds maybe. I found out later what that was all about."
The fire
Dorner fled to a nearby
cabin and got into another shootout with San Bernardino County deputies,
killing one and wounding another.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters Tuesday the other deputy was in surgery "but he should be fine."
Some of the firefight
between police and the suspect was captured live on the telephone of a
reporter for CNN affiliates KCBS and KCAL. Police in Los Angeles
listened live over police scanners broadcast on the Internet, Neiman
said.
"It was horrifying to listen to that firefight," he told reporters.
The cabin caught fire when police tossed smoke devices inside, a law enforcement source told CNN.
The intense fire burned for hours as authorities waited at a distance.
After initially saying
no body had been found, sheriff's investigators finally confirmed
overnight that they had found charred human remains within the ashes.
The department said it will work to identify the remains -- but it could take a while.
Devices such as flash
bang grenades and tear gas canisters designed to disorient and disable
suspects can cause fires, CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, a former FBI
assistant director, said Wednesday.
Death toll
The deputy's death in the shootout Tuesday brought to four the number of people police believe Dorner killed.
Dorner, a man who vowed
to kill police officers to avenge what he called an unfair termination,
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 also say he
killed Riverside, California, police Officer Michael Crain and wounded
Crain's partner in an ambush on their patrol car Thursday. Police say he
also wounded an LAPD officer who chased him in the suburban city of
Corona, California.
Manifesto
Police say Dorner a promised war on police after issuing a manifesto
blaming the LAPD for mistreating him. He claimed he was railroaded out
of the department after filing a brutality report against another
officer and said a culture of racism and misconduct continues within the
department.
The manifesto warned
dozens of LAPD figures and their families that he would wage "asymmetric
warfare" against the department, drawing on his training with the LAPD
and as a Naval officer in river warfare and security units.
He said it was not something he enjoyed, but called it a "last resort" to clear his name and bring change to the department.
He also predicted his own death would come in a confrontation with police.
"Self Preservation is no longer important to me," the manifesto said at one point. "I do not fear death as I died long ago."
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