Christopher Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer accused to have killed three people, has reportedly been cornered by police. Reports on CNN and NBC indicate there was a gunfight with one or possibly two officers down. Watch it LIVE here (SEE UPDATE III on one cop killed in shootout below):
View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.
Details from NBC in LA about what some news agencies are calling a standoff. Apparently police located him after he committed a burglarly near Big Bear:
Authorities responded to a report of gunfire and a possible sighting of Christopher Dorner — the ex-LAPD officer wanted for three shooting deaths — in the Big Bear area Tuesday.
Gunfire was reported near Seven Oaks Mountain Cabins, a collection of rental homes at 40700 Seven Oaks Road in Angelus Oaks. Authorities received a report that an officer was wounded in the shooting.
Sources close to the investigation told NBC4 that authorities responded to a report of a couple held hostage in a cabin. The attacker stole the couple’s vehicle, the source told NBC4.
One of the homeowners might have made a 911 call, the source told NBC4.
Authorities responded also received reports of a possible reckless driver and shots fired in Big Bear. Authorities did not confirm the vehicle involved in the reckless driver report belonged to 33-year-old Dorner.
Highways 38 and 330 are closed in the Big Bear area.
When there is a final resolution of this story a new post will be published.
UPDATE: The LA Times:
Christopher Dorner was engaged in a shootout with federal authorities in the Big Bear area Tuesday, a law enforcement source told The Times.
The shooting occurred after Dorner burglarized a home, tied up a couple and stole their car, the source said.
It was not immediately clear whether Dorner was in custody.
A second source said there was an active crime scene but did not have details.
Law enforcement officials were swarming the area.
U.S. Marshal’s officials said in court papers that Dorner could have fled to Mexico. In Tijuana, Dorner was listed as one of the most wanted fugitives. But LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman said that was only one of many locations authorities were considering.
Neiman said detectives were examining video that might show Dorner purchasing scuba gear at a Sport Chalet store in Torrance days before his alleged killing spree began.
Law enforcement sources told The Times that officials have confirmed the man in the video is Dorner. He spent $5 to $10 to fill up a scuba tank, the sources said. Investigators have also reviewed store receipts.
Officers have crisscrossed California pursuing tips about Dorner’s possible whereabouts and serving warrants at homes in Las Vegas and Point Loma.
Meanwhile, an associate of Dorner was being tracked by investigators, according to court records that suggest Dorner may have received help as he eluded a massive law enforcement dragnet.
GO HERE for CNN’s update. It includes these tidbits:
*Schools are being let out.
*Authorities are telling news helicopters to pull back since gunfire is being exchanged.
Updated at 5:22 p.m. ET] Authorities are now saying that a man believed to be Dorner exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers after he barricaded himself inside a cabin Tuesday afternoon, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department says.
Here’s the sequence of events from the sheriff’s department: Officers got a report of a stolen vehicle in the Big Bear area, and deputies responded to the area at 12:22 p.m. PT and began looking for the vehicle on the ground and from the air.
“The vehicle was located at Hwy. 38 and Glass Rd. The suspect fled into the forest and barricaded himself inside a cabin,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “A short time later there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect. Sheriff’s SWAT is on scene.”
Two law enforcement officers are being airlifted to a local hospital with “unknown injuries,” the sheriff’s department said. Earlier, a high-ranking law enforcement source told CNN that two sheriff’s deputies were wounded in a shootout.
UPDATE 2: CBS gives more details:
A fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings was barricaded in a cabin in the in the San Bernardino Mountains on Tuesday after a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers. CBS News’ Pat Milton reported that the man that is held up in the cabin is believed to be suspect Christopher Dorner.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says two law enforcement officers are being airlifted to a local hospital with unknown injuries.
CBS Station KCAL Los Angeles reported that repeated gunshots could be heard on Glass Road west of 7 Oaks just after 1:30 p.m. and officials asked for an armored vehicle to help move the injured deputies from the area.
Deputies in the Big Bear area looking for Christopher Dorner responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in the area about 12:20 p.m., the sheriff’s office said.
Watch live video from the scene in Big Bear on KCAL-TV
The people whose vehicle was stolen described the suspect as looking very similar to Dorner.The vehicle 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 and the suspect.
It’s not clear which agency the two agents wounded belong to, State Fish and Wildlife Assistant Chief Dan Sforza told KCAL.
It’s also believed Dorner committed a residential burglary of a cabin where a couple was tied up, an officer told The Associated Press.
UPDATE 3: One cop killed in the shootout:
One police officer was killed and another hurt in a fierce gunfight with a fugitive ex-LAPD cop who remained holed up in a cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains, law enforcement sources said.
It was not known if Christopher Dorner was hit in the dramatic battle that unfolded Tuesday afternoon in the resort area of Big Bear. Dorner, who has vowed not to be taken alive, was firing at police and using smoke grenades. It was not clear what other weapons he had inside the cabin.
“Everyone is very hopeful that this thing ends without any more bloodshed,” LAPD Commander Andrew Smith said at a Tuesday evening news conference in Los Angeles, as LAPD and San Bernadino police tensely manned positions around the cabin. “The best thing for him now would be to surrender.
“There is a tremendous sense of apprehension about our officers here,” Smith added.
One of the deputies involved in a gun battle Tuesday afternoon with fugitive former police officer Christopher Dorner has died of his wounds, law enforcement sources told The Times.
The San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sources.
Another deputy was also wounded in the shootout near a cabin where Dorner was believed to be holed up in the snow-covered mountains near Big Bear. His condition was not immediately known.
The afternoon gun battle in which hundreds of rounds were exchanged was part of a quickly changing situation that began after Dorner allegedly broke into a home, tied up a couple and held them hostage before fleeing with their white pickup truck, authorities said.
Then Dorner was allegedly spotted by state Fish and Wildlife officers in the pickup truck, sources said. A vehicle-to-vehicle shootout ensued. The officer’s vehicle was peppered with multiple rounds, according to authorities.
Dorner crashed his vehicle and took refuge in a nearby cabin, sources said. One deputy was hit as Dorner fired out of the cabin and a second deputy was injured when Dorner exited the back of the cabin, deployed a smoke bomb and opened fire again in an apparent attempt to flee. Dorner was driven back inside the cabin, the source said.
graphic via shutterstock.com
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.