LAPD to reopen probe into fugitive ex-cop's firing
Christopher Dorner is seen on surveillance video at an Orange County, Calif., hotel Jan. 28, 2013, in this image provided by the Irvine Police Department. / AP Photo/Irvine Police Department
Updated at 10:48 p.m. ET
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. The hunt for a former Los Angeles police officer suspected in three killings continued in snow-covered mountains Saturday as the LAPD's chief said he would reopen the disciplinary case that led to the fugitive's firing.
Officials in particular will re-examine the allegations by Christopher Dorner, 33, that his law enforcement career was undone by racist colleagues, Police Chief Charlie Beck said. While he promised to hear out Dorner if he surrenders, Beck stressed that he was ordering a review of his 2007 case because he takes the allegation of racism in his department seriously.
Fugitive officer goes from hunter to hunted
Beck, in an interview with Pat Harvey of CBS2, said: "I'm not doing this to appease him. I'm doing this so the community has faith in what the police department does." He added: "This investigation has already been reviewed at multiple levels. If I have to redo something or deal with an issue I will deal with it publicly."
Authorities suspect Dorner in a series of attacks in Southern California over the past week that left three people dead, including a police officer. Authorities say he has vowed revenge against several former LAPD colleagues whom he blames for ending his career. The killings and threats that Dorner allegedly made in an online rant have led police to provide protection to 50 families, Beck said.
A captain who was named a target in the manifesto posted on Facebook told the Orange County Register he has not stepped outside his house since he learned of the threat, and he was taking it seriously.
"From what I've seen of (Dorner's) actions, he feels he can make allegations for injustice and justify killing people and that's not reasonable," said Capt. Phil Tingirides, who chaired a board that stripped Dorner of his badge. "The end never justifies the means."
Meanwhile, a scaled-back search party took advantage of a break from stormy weather Saturday to hunt for Dorner, using heat-sensing helicopters and fanning out in fresh snow as vacationing families and weekend skiers frolicked nearby.
The stark blue skies that emerged after a Friday snowstorm allowed San Bernardino County sheriff's choppers to fly low over the forest and SWAT teams to look for tracks and other clues that might lead to Dorner, 33, whose burned-out pickup truck was discovered in town Thursday.
Where and when will Dorner appear next?
On "CBS This Morning: Saturday," CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that Dorner's abandonment of his truck because of a broken axle has prompted authorities to believe that he has shifted "from being the hunter to the hunted."
Inside the truck, CBS News correspondent Carter Evans reports from Los Angeles that, according to police sources, investigators recovered weapons, including two long-range rifles with silencers, cold-weather survival gear, along with night-vision goggles and a gas mask.
It's unknown what supplies Dorner was able to carry into the remote mountains east of Los Angeles, Evans reports.
Despite the manhunt's shift to the mountains, Miller reports that authorities are making sure police will maintain a presence at Sunday night's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles by calling in officers initially scheduled to have the day off and having others work overtime.
The manhunt didn't appear to bother the majority of tourists intent on enjoying Saturday's perfect winter weather, which made for strikingly odd contrasts: the sound of barking bloodhounds mixed with rap music blaring off the ski slopes; a family with kids strolling by a deputy, who was clad in full tactical gear and practicing his aim on a small snowdrift.
San Bernardino County sheriff's Detective Chad Johnson said he and others were intent on finding Dorner but also looking for other telltale signs of his whereabouts.
"There's a million clues in the mountain. You've just got to be patient to find them," Johnson said.
Johnson said the search includes mountainous areas that are very steep and high climbs that often end in cliffs.
"It's a challenging day of work," he said.
Saturday was the third full day of the massive multi-agency effort now centered on this resort town about 80 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Investigators continue to analyze the burned-out truck discovered Thursday, trying to determine whether Dorner torched it or if it caught fire for other reasons.
The search once included 125 officers but that number was reduced to 50 on Saturday, according to the sheriff's office.
Officers have been going door to door examining hundreds of vacant cabins, aware that they could be walking into a trap set by the well-trained former Navy reservist who knows their tactics and strategies.
"Christopher Dorner is probably one of the most dangerous fugitives that law enforcement has gone after in recent times," said Clint Van Zandt, former supervisor of FBI's profiling unit. "The challenge is, with his law enforcement and military background, he's very competent with weapons."
Sheriff's Detective Jeremiah MacKay, who began his patrol at 5 a.m. Saturday, said the operation was both massive and tactically complex.
"This one you just never know if the guy's going to pop out, or where he's going to pop out. We're hoping this comes to a close without more casualties. The best thing would be for him to give up," MacKay said.
On Friday night, authorities served a search warrant and collected evidence from a Buena Park storage unit as part of their investigation. Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen wouldn't elaborate on the nature of the evidence or say who had rented the unit.
Earlier Friday, another warrant was served at a La Palma house belonging to Dorner's mother. Officers collected 10 bags of evidence, including five electronic items.
Police said officers still were guarding more than 40 people mentioned as targets in a rant that authorities said Dorner posted on Facebook. He vowed to use "every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance and survival training I've been given" to bring "warfare" to the LAPD and its families.
Dorner served in the Navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007.
Last Friday was his last day with the Navy and also the day CNN's Anderson Cooper received a package that contained a note on it that read, in part, "I never lied." A coin riddled with bullet holes that former Chief William Bratton gave out as a souvenir was also in the package.
Police said it was a sign of planning by Dorner before the killing began.
Ex-LAPD Chief: Police "on edge" in hunt for cop killer
On "CBS This Morning" Friday, Bratton described Dorner as "an incredibly dangerous individual" and reacted to the damaged coin.
"When you see that that coin that was given in friendship and respect has three bullet holes, it's certainly very chilling," Bratton said.
On Sunday, police say Dorner shot and killed a couple in a parking garage at their condominium in Irvine. The woman was the daughter of a retired police captain who had represented Dorner in the disciplinary proceedings that led to his firing.
Dorner wrote in his manifesto that he believed the retired captain had represented the interests of the department over his.
Hours after authorities identified Dorner as a suspect in the double murder, police believe Dorner shot and grazed an LAPD officer in Corona and then used a rifle to ambush two Riverside police officers early Thursday, killing one and seriously wounding the other.
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If the LAPD wan't to strengthen the public trust, it'll insist upon an independent review.
Dorner has had six years to prepare. Most likely only two since committing himself. And there are a heap of you out there that think firearms are the only way to destroy someone. More happens everyday with two characters; 1 & 0, as in 11010010. Poisoning and basic incendiaries are another means readily at hand. You'd be surprised what you could concoct in your average kitchen, to say nothing of what's found in a typical suburban garage.
Did you know that dark red is a good color for hiding in plain sight? In the dark, it's shadow-black. Shine the lights on someone wearing red and you automatically assume they're not trying to hide.
Where could a 6'0" black man hide effectively? In the ghettos or squats. Nobody would notice another derelict who kept to themselves.
I think LAPD is following a false trail. That's what I would have done. They think he's without equipment or has diminished his holdings. He knew his vehicle had a lo-jack and any registered cellphone could be tracked. Hire two junkies, problem solved. Best they'd be able to say is where he hired them from and for what.
Ah, unconventional warfare. It works wonders on the establishment's mindset.
Give him the independent review of his case and the killings stop. Unlike the LAPD, I'd trust Dorner to be good to his word.
I think this is a good idea, however...
The examining of the Wanat incident by a Marine General found the brass negligent in their duties. An Army re-investigation disagreed with the Marine General and found their Army brass to have done well in placing our soldiers in a valley with towering mountains above them from which they could be easily attacked and destroyed.
That is to say, the re-investigation was worse than the first. The Marine General was correct in his findings against the Army brass and their stupid negligence.
Maybe he thinks he'll be elected President after his exoneration, because he told the truth (like Washington cutting down the cherry tree).
This is America, anything is possible. A vote for Dorner is a vote for everything that is unjust in the world, black is white, up is down - and it seems pigs can fly too (but they can't hide).
What isit you don't bet ... oh I see you are bewildered because you just can't understand a truth when it stares you in the face. This truth that just happened ... is ugly truth on both sides of the law. Very ugly situation for Dorner and the LAPD ... because the LAPD can't talk any of us out of what they had done. They have to take responsibility for their actions too as well.
The LAPD should be using an independent judicial study group from a University of Northern California that studies these kinds of judicial inquiries and judicial outcomes so there is no bias in the process. It's obvious the LAPD are losing citizen in California but also across the United States. All eyes are on the LAPD tactical moves and mistakes. Genuinely people are looking closely at how the LAPD is responding to capturing Dorner but at the expense of innocent people who are shot first and with no warning. "Collateral Damage" seems to be okay in this matter but people should beware that if they are in harm's way by being in one of those neighborhoods where one of the cops was listed on the Dorner manifesto ... "You are a sitting duck!" Not by Dorner but rather the LAPD.