The latest police press conference is denying reports that a body found in a burned out cabin is Christopher Dorner’s. The hunt reportedly continue.
UPDATE: According to cable networks, police say no body was pulled out of the cabin because it was too hot.
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The latest news on the saga of renegade ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner is this: cable news networks now say that a body found in a cabin burned during a fierce battle with police is likely to be Dorner. But cablecasts also note that police officials will not announce his death as a certainty until they have conclusively proven it is indeed him. CNN’s latest:
*Person believed to be renegade ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner killed deputy, wounded another in shootout at southern California cabin Tuesday, authorities say
*Hours later, sources say, police assaulted cabin; sources say body is believed to be Dorner’s
*Police: Encounter came after suspect stole vehicle, exchanged gunfire with game warden, and then fled to cabin in San Bernardino National Forest[Updated at 10:02 p.m. ET] A body believed to be that of Christopher Dorner has been pulled from the burning cabin, multiple law enforcement sources tell CNN contributor Tom Fuentes. The sources say they were told this by LAPD.
Law enforcement personnel will conduct a forensic exam to identify the body, the sources say.
[Updated at 9:53 p.m. ET] Some details on the surviving deputy who was wounded in today’s shootout at the cabin: That deputy still is in surgery and is expected to live, San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller says.
That deputy was one of two deputies who were wounded in a shootout at the cabin in Califorina’s San Bernardino National Forest on Tuesday afternoon. The other deputy was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital, authorities said.
The names of the deputies have not been released.
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A body was removed tonight from the smouldering remains of the California mountain cabin where a man police believe is Christopher Dorner had barricaded himself, apparently ending a five-day manhunt for the ex-LAPD police officer accused of gunning down another cop.
Heavily armed police surrounding the cabin high the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear, Calif., say they saw Dorner enter but never leave the building as it was consumed by flames, creating a billowing column of black smoke seen for miles.
Police recovered a burnt body from the cabin, but were awaiting tests to officially confirm it belonged to Dorner, who for the past week was the most wanted man in America.
One sheriff’s deputy was killed in a shootout with Dorner earlier today, believed to be his fourth and final victim after killing an LAPD officer and two other people this month, including the daughter of a former police captain, and promising to kill many more in an online manifesto.
Cops said they heard a single gunshot go off from inside the cabin just as they began to see smoke and fire. Later they heard the sound of more gunshots, the sound of ammunition being ignited by the heat of the blaze, law enforcement officials said.
Police did not enter the building, but exchanged fire with Dorner and shot tear gas into the building.
A body was found inside the burned-out cabin Tuesday night where Christopher Jordan Dorner was believed to have kept law enforcement authorities at bay before officers fired tear gas into the structure, a source told The Times.
The body, which was found in the charred rubble of the mountainside cabin, was not positively identified, the source said. The process of determining whether the body is that of the former Los Angeles Police Department officer could take hours or even days, the source said.
As authorities moved into the cabin earlier Tuesday, they heard a single gunshot.
According to a law enforcement source, police had broken down windows, fired tear gas into the cabin and blasted over a loud speaker, urging Dorner to surrender. When they got no response, police deployed a vehicle to rip down the walls of the cabin “one by one, like peeling an onion,” a law enforcement official said.
By the time they got to the last wall, authorities heard a single gunshot, the source said. Then flames began to spread through the structure, and gunshots, probably set off by the fire, were heard.
As darkness descended on the mountainside, Dorner’s body had not been found, authorities said. Police were planning to focus their search in the basement area, 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.