Saturday, February 16, 2013
Associated Press
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.
Fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner apparently killed himself as the cabin he was barricaded in caught fire after a shootout with officers, police revealed Friday while also confirming he spent most of his time on the run in a condominium just steps away from the command center set up to find him.
“The information that we have right now seems to indicate that the wound that took Christopher Dorner’s life was self-inflicted,” sheriff’s Cpt. Kevin Lacy told reporters at a news conference.
Authorities initially were unsure whether Dorner killed himself, had been struck by a deputy’s bullet or had died in a fire that engulfed the cabin during the shootout, which included police sending tear-gas canisters inside.
The search for Dorner began last week after authorities said he had launched a deadly revenge campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing, warning in a manifesto posted on Facebook that he would bring “warfare” to LAPD officers and their families.
Within days he apparently killed four people, including two police officers.
He killed the daughter of a former Los Angeles Police Department captain and her fiance Feb. 3 and later a Riverside police officer he ambushed at a traffic light. He then disappeared into the San Bernardino National Forest four days later, leaving his burned-out truck with a broken axle near the mountain resort of Big Bear Lake. His fourth victim was a sheriff’s deputy killed in Tuesday’s shootout.