While officials were
reluctant to say they were certain they had ended Dorner's vendetta, the
frenzied manhunt, roadblocks and helicopter flights that had preceded
the standoff died down Tuesday night. The Los Angeles Police Department
also returned to normal patrol operations after days of heightened
alert, Lt. Andy Neiman said Wednesday.
But Neiman said a "great
fear" remained among the dozens of police officers and their relatives
threatened by Dorner in a manifesto vowing revenge over his firing from
the LAPD, and their police guards were still in place.
Timeline in manhunt
Standoff
Tuesday's events came
five days after authorities found Dorner's burned truck on a forest road
near Big Bear Lake, which is about 100 miles east of Los Angeles.
Officers converged on the remote area, but the trail went cold for days.
On Sunday, the San Bernardino authorities said they had scaled back the
search.
Los Angeles authorities
had issued a $1 million reward for Dorner's capture. Villaraigosa said
it was too soon to say if anyone would be able to claim the reward.
What may have been the
final act in the Dorner saga began Tuesday, when California Fish and
Wildlife wardens said they spotted Dorner driving a purple Nissan down
icy roads near Big Bear Lake. He was driving very close to school buses,
as if using them as cover, Lt. Patrick Foy said.
No children were on the buses, he said.
The wardens, driving in two different vehicles, chased Dorner. A gun battle ensued.
One of the warden's cars
was hit, and Dorner crashed his car and ran, according to authorities.
He then carjacked a pickup truck.
Rick Heltebrake, a camp ranger, said he was driving when he saw the crashed purple truck -- and then something terrifying.
"Here comes this guy
with a big gun, and I knew who it was right away," he told CNN affiliate
KTLA. "He just came out of the snow at me with his gun at my head. He
said, 'I don't want to hurt you. Just get out of the car and start
walking.' "
Heltebrake said the man let him take his dog and walk away with his hands up.
"Not more than 10
seconds later, I heard a loud round of gunfire," Heltebrake said. "Ten
to 20 rounds maybe. I found out later what that was all about."
The fire
Dorner fled to a nearby
cabin and got into another shootout with San Bernardino County deputies,
killing one and wounding another.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters Tuesday the other deputy was in surgery, "but he should be fine."
Some of the firefight
between police and the gunman was captured live on the telephone of a
reporter for CNN affiliates KCBS and KCAL. Police in Los Angeles
listened live over police scanners broadcast on the Internet, Neiman
said.
"It was horrifying to listen to that firefight," he told reporters.
The cabin caught fire
when police tossed smoke devices inside, a law enforcement source told
CNN. The intense fire burned for hours as authorities waited at a
distance.
After initially saying
that no body had been found, sheriff's investigators finally confirmed
overnight that they had found charred human remains in the ashes.
The department said it would work to identify the remains, but it could take a while.
Devices such as
flash-bang grenades and tear gas canisters designed to disorient and
disable suspects can cause fires, CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, a former
FBI assistant director, said Wednesday.
Death toll
The deputy's death in the shootout Tuesday brought to four the number of people that police believe Dorner killed.
Dorner, who vowed to
kill police officers to avenge what he called an unfair termination, was
first named a suspect in two shooting deaths on February 3: Monica
Quan, the daughter of his police union representative, and her fiance,
Keith Lawrence.
Police say he killed
Riverside, California, police Officer Michael Crain and wounded Crain's
partner in an ambush on their patrol car Thursday. They say he also
wounded an LAPD officer who chased him in the suburban city of Corona,
California.
Manifesto
Police say Dorner promised a war on police after issuing a manifesto
blaming the LAPD for mistreating him. He claimed he was railroaded out
of the department after filing a brutality report against another
officer and said a culture of racism and misconduct continues within the
department.
The manifesto warned
dozens of LAPD figures and their families that he would wage "asymmetric
warfare" against the department, drawing on his training with the LAPD
and as a naval officer in river warfare and security units.
He said it was not something he enjoyed, but called it a "last resort" to clear his name and bring change to the department.
He also predicted his own death would come in a confrontation with police.
"Self Preservation is no longer important to me," the manifesto said. "I do not fear death as I died long ago."
Undated photo of Chriistopher Dorner/Uncredited
