Suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer. (AP)
Cops cornered rogue Los Angeles officer Christopher Dorner, wanted for allegedly killing four people — including one lawman today — inside a cabin that burned down, officials said.
Lawmen got on to Dorner’s trail shortly after noon when he allegedly stole a vehicle near Big Bear Lake, abandoned it after he was chased by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies and took off on foot into the forest where he barricaded himself, officials said.
Dorner exchanged gunfire with the deputies, wounding two of them before they were airlifted to the hospital, authorities said. One of the deputies later died from his injuries.
Police fired tear gas into the cabin before one gunshot could be heard, apparently from inside that mountainside structure, two hours east of LA.
The cabin caught fire and there was no immediate effort to put out the blaze. No one was spotted running out of the structure that eventually burned down.
“We had reasons to believe that was Christopher Dorner [inside],” said San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman.
Multiple Southern California media outlets reported that a charred body was pulled the cabin and preliminarily identified as Dorner’s.
But Bachman and LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith insisted late tonight that the cabin was still smoldering and no body had been recovered
“There has been no body located inside of that cabin,” Smith said. “That cabin has not yet been searched because the fire is still too hot.”
Bachman added just before midnight EST: “They [deputies] have not been inside the cabin. It is not safe to do that.”
This siege and fire could mark the end of one of the Golden State’s most intense manhunts.
“We’re heartbroken,” Big Bear Lake Mayor Jay Obernolte said of the deputy’s death. “Words can’t express how grateful we are for the sacrifice those men have made in defense of the community and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.”
The rogue former cop had been hiding in Big Bear for days after he broke into another cabin, tied up two people inside and held them until this morning, law enforcement sources told the LA Times.
He allegedly took off in a pickup truck owned by one of the hostages, ditched it and carjacked another truck when he was spotted by state Fish and Wildlife officers, officials said. That touched off what could have been his last chase.
Dorner has been the target of a massive search that centered in Southern California but had authorities in Nevada, Arizona and the US-Mexican border on high alert.
The former officer’s alleged killing spree is tied to his hatred of the LAPD. The department fired him, saying he lied in accusing a superior of roughing up a mentally disturbed man under arrest.
The bloodshed began on Feb. 3 when Cal State Fullerton assistant women’s basketball coach Monica Quan and her fiance Keith Lawrence were shot to death in their car in Irvine, Calif.
Quan is the daughter a former LAPD captain-turned-lawyer who unsuccessfully represented Dorner at his departmental hearing.
Dorner was named as a suspect on Wednesday night, before he allegedly killed defenseless officer Michael Crain, who was stopped at red light in Riverside, Calif., on Thursday morning.
Dorner was in neighboring Corona moments earlier, looking to get even with an LAPD official who he believed had wronged him, police said. But cops were there waiting for Dorner and he got into a shootout, before escaping and killing Crain, authorities said.
The former LAPD cop’s truck was found burning in Big Bear later that day. That was the last sign of Dorner before today.