Dorner 'never came out of cabin'

Feb 13 2013

The man believed to be fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner never came out of a California mountain cabin, and a single shot was heard inside before the cabin was engulfed in flames, a law enforcement official has told the Associated Press.

A fourth person - a deputy - died earlier in the latest confrontation with America's most-wanted man, which seemed to be coming to an end. Officials were waiting for the fire to burn out before approaching the ruins to search for a body.

"We have reason to believe that it is him," San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said.

The cabin was on fire and smoke was coming from the structure in the late afternoon on Tuesday after police surrounded it in the snow-covered woods of Big Bear, a resort town about 80 miles (128km) east of Los Angeles.

Ms Bachman did not say how the fire started but noted there was gunfire between the person in the cabin and law enforcement officers around the home before the blaze began. TV helicopters showed the fire burning freely with no apparent effort to extinguish it.

Authorities have focused their hunt for Christopher Dorner there since they said he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing.They said Dorner threatened to bring "warfare" to Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers and their families, spreading fear and setting off a search for him across three states and Mexico.

"Enough is enough. It's time for you to turn yourself in. It's time to stop the bloodshed," LAPD Commander Andrew Smith said earlier in the day at a news conference held outside police headquarters in Los Angeles, a starkly different atmosphere than last week when officials briefed the news media under tight security with Dorner on the loose.

If the man inside the cabin does prove to be Dorner, it will lower tensions among the more than 40 targets police say he listed in an online rant. Until Tuesday, authorities did not know whether Dorner was still near Big Bear, where they found his burned-out pickup last week.

Around 12.20pm local time on Tuesday, deputies got a report of a stolen vehicle, authorities said. The location was directly across the street from where law enforcement set up their command post on Thursday and not far from where Dorner's burned-out pickup was abandoned.

The people whose vehicle was stolen described the suspect as looking similar to Dorner. When authorities found the vehicle, the suspect ran into the forest and barricaded himself inside the cabin. The first exchange of gunfire - which involved wildlife officers - occurred about 12.45pm. There was then a second exchange with San Bernardino County deputies, two of whom were shot. One died and the other was expected to live after undergoing surgery.