Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
the case of Christopher Dorner who shot several police officers in California in 2013. When he lost his job with the police department, his resentment for the forces continued to grow.
In 2013 killing spree would unfold in california.that would grip the united states.deputies say the killer could be anywhere .
and grab headlines across the globe. targeting his former employers at the LAPD.
ex-cop christopher dorner would embark on a vigilante for mission for vengeance.as the clock ticked the body count rose and with it the question what could have provoked christopher dorner to commit his killing spree.
surrounded by the vast wilderness of san bernadino national forest
the tranquil mountain town of big bear is one of southern california’s
most popular tourist destinations,Big Bear is a great little mountain town.
big bear environs ,its neighbors are a huge pine forest essentially.out in the wilderness , that’s what people like. yet on february the 12th, 2013 at the hight of the normally bustling ski season the atmosphere and peace of this pictures resort was shattered.
A manhunt underway for a former los angeles police officer accused of murdering three people.law enforcement authorities from across the state had descened on the tranquil area as they sought a spree killer on the run.
people were all on edge.people were all keeping weapons by the door,people were taking precautions.
the lone gunman had left a trail of carnage across california’s cityscape before hiding out in the mountains.
christopher dorner was now the most wanted man in america.
there is a possibility that’s he´s out here and that’s why police are out here searching.
the search involved every level of law enforcement in in the United states. thousands of police officers were involved, this was one of the largest deployments police agencies .
the threat posed by dorner was palpable, any police officer that tried to arrest him or contact would be a target.and apprehending him would be a challenge for the detectives that had little precedent .
mr dorner’s military training , his police training,the type and nature of weapons that the police knew that he had in his possession heightened their concernes.
after several days spent scouring the mountains it was believed that the elusive killer may have slipped the net.
however in the early afternoon of the 12th of february , dorner broke cover and was reported to police. sparking fresh life into the sprawling searching efforts.
they heard the broadcast over the radio that dorner had been sighted
and headed out . the police knew that he had already killed mulitple people the first thing that was going threw the detectives mind is if they do find him you’re gonna be involved ina shooting with him. dorner was not rational. he was upredictable
willing to do anyting to get away.there were no question at least in detectives mind that this was going to end in more killing.
local scout camp leader rick helterbrake was on the mountain that day.unaware of the drama that was beginning to unfold. he came down the road .,he was just checking the perimeter as he re-called all you see is his property so he ‘s checking to make sure nobody is down here, no snow players, no vehicles basic doing a security check.he’s just driving , minding he’s own business a day like any other day.
roughly about in here someplace he saw movements up here on the left, he doesnt know what it is
and right about here he see a crashed car at around 12: 45 p.m, rick would lay eyes on the man who was the subject of one of the nation’s largest ever man hunts. with a split second or so seeimgly rick came up and christopher dorner came out of the snowbank at rick with a rifle prepared at him
in 1979, 34 years old orior to his ruthless spree christopher dorner and his family moved from new york to the middle- class neighborhood of norwalk in southern california .he was raised in a middle -income society not a ghetto ,his family wasn’t tremendously poor.
despitte his tranquil surburban surroundings from an early age dorner would develop the sense that the world was against him.
james usera ,former friend remember dorner tellling him that he was the only african -american child in his class or in his neighborhood . he would regularly get beat up after school , they were bullies in the neighborhood who would give him a hard time. to hear him tell it was racially motivated.
at college friends reaclled dorner as outgoing and and well educated.james and dorner played football together. james said that dorner was clea- cut articulate,pretty easy to get along with. he was approachable good sense of humor,dorner wasn’t somebody who was serious all the time , he´d laugh and smile and normal ,he was 19 year old 20 old guy .
however dorners habit of painting himself as a victim of prejudice would continue he was very conscious of how people treated him him . james don’t think that he was all that thrilled about their coaches on the fotbool team . he commented to james thet he thought particular coach was racist.
Dornes problems with authority would contiunue after college . having spent time enlisted in the Navy reserves his tendency to blame others was again noted when he joined the LAPD.
in his short time in the LAPD ,christpher dorner was the center of a lot of controversy, he made a several complaints against other officers ,he saw everything that happened to him that wasn’t to his liking as a consequence of his race or some overall scheme against him.
he was a troubled man. christopher dorner’s festering resentment would eventually overwhelm him and extreme violance would be the tragic consequence.
in 2013 ,christopher dorner would perpetrate a killing spree that would leave california paralyzed by fear.law enforcement throughout southern california is heightened and aware and concerned and scareed because any one of them could have been his next target.
The former LAPD man would turn futgitive and orchestrate a campaign of murder that would draw international attention and spark a massive manhunt.
at one point that the rewards throughout southern california for his apprehension amounted to over a million and a half dollars.
the extraordinary spree would begin in puzzling circumstances. the 3rd of february 2013.7.30 pm the city of irvine, 40 miles southeast of los angeles and her fiance keith lawrence were found slain in the parking lot at their apartment building.
she was a coach in school system and a very well respected individual in the community she was engaged to keith lawrence.
initially the motivation for this predatory crime seemed difficult to determine. Irivine police departement were stunned by the randomness selection of vicitms in this crime . young people ,no enemies , no connection to crime , no history of violance and so detectives were at a loss .
however , in the early hours of the 4th of february , christopher dorner would not only claime the responsibility for the killingsbut announce his plans to continue his spree by targeting police officers.
holed up in an unassuming motel dorner posted a multi-page manifesto online.
upon the discovery of the sprawling document ,police began their investigation.
“today we have identified christopher jordan dorner as a suspect in this double homicide “
the manifesto outlined dorner’s motives .
” in this rambling manifesto posted on dorner’s facebook page , he details everything”
and made clear his grievances with the LAPD.christopher dorner had a troubled history with los angeles police departement on his probationary period,his training officer counseled him about his performance,soon after that, he made allegations of excessive force against her during an arrest .
those allegations were not supported by witnesses or fact he was terminated from los angeles police departement for being untrueful.
he felt that because of his race and law enforcement that affected his professional career in a detrimental way .
he was an injustice collector. he was a person that believed that nothing that ever happened to him was a result of his own doing.
the worst thing about the setbacks for him were because he was a narcissist it was stripping him of every hing that he held true, his identity ,his service record , you take that away from a narcissist the outer trappings of success then there’s nothing left for him to have.
vengeance is a very powerful motivation in spree killing.we see there victims, they see villains and so they want to get even through the barrel of a gun.
further reading of the sprawling document would uncover dorner’s twisted logic behind classifying
monica Quan as a legitimed target for his vengeance.
monica Quan has a daughter of randy Quan an LAPD captain the individual who had represented him , not prosecuted him , represented him at his administrative hearing during which he weas terminated fired from los angeles police departement.
dorner decided to pick them as his avenue for revenge.the cirdcumstances of the young couples deaths would give investigators a chiolling insight into the cold -blooded mind of christopher dorner. it was an ambush , multiple rounds were fired .
caught very off-guard and basically slaughtered executed. victims had no opportunity to escape or respond, that it was calculated, this was a crime of great brutality.
he claimed he was not done and that he was still going to go after other law enforcement officers.
the unique threats posed by dorner’s military training and knowledge of police tactics at officers on edge.when christopher dorner went on his rampage, every law enforcement agency around was aware of him.everyone were all on high alert .
he had specialized training with weapons , he’s aware of law enforcement routines.
as investigation continued CCTV footage emerged of dorner dumping weapons in the aftermanth of Quan and lawrence murders.
staying one step ahead of the police dorner turned the tables on his pursuers and the hunters would now become the hunted.
the 7th of february 2013. 1. 45 am. riverside city california.cabdriver karam kaoud was working the night shift. normal evening .not that busy ,just normal. but at a stop sign,a gray , blue truck run the red light and the same moment karam was thinking about it he saw a police officer. karam saw a truck pulling up next to the police . a car is between them.
in that car was jack chilson. a local resident who also was in the area. he was on his way home and was at the red light and looked to the right and saw a police officer pulled up in a squad car.
riverside officers michael crane and Andrew Tachias were out working a routine late night patrol.
mike crane was a remakble officer he had about 11 years of service ,his personal he was the father of two children .
and Andrew Tachias was a new office to the riverside police departement.
karam , jack and officers crane and tachias were abouit to become embroiled in the burgeoning spree.
jack seen something on peripheral vision on his left hand side and he see’s a large black male in a truck with an assult rifle at his driver’s window resting on the window and start shooting.
jack looking to his left wtching dorner shoot across jack’s hood into the driver’s window, side window of the officers squad car.
opening fire on crane and Tachias, dorner would not discriminate when it came to dispatchng violence.
he had safety goggles on and he had a grid in his face he was like , he was happy , he didn’t feel sorry or antyhing . says jack that witnessed the shooting. jack couldn’t believe it . the driver slept forward that ‘s all he sees jack never see a passanger. after he shot the police officers he just left he didn’t peel out , be just like nothing ever happened. no speeding.no nothing. like he was going home no emotion. said jack.
with the officers helpless their patrol car strafed with bullets ,taxi driver karam came to their aid . karam left his car and he saw the passenger police officer sitting up and officer Tachias, the wounded one he barely could move. karam asked what he could do.Tachias repeat” the radio, radio karam press the button and grep it to Tachias mouths and he’s started to call.
” Officer shot multiple times”
Tachias cant move he cannot even grab the radio, he was wounded so bad.
when police support arrived on the scene of the shooting it proved to be too late for michael crane.
two police officers went to his window and they made their head like that is he’s dead .
as the spree now entered its fourth day .officer Tachias had been left critically wounded
following the death of michael crane . christopher dorners victims now numbered three .
his attack on officer Tachias and officer crane was cowardice
it was a blindside, it was suppressed fire, they had no idea he was even in the area.
be murdered for what you do for a living is the height of prejudice here’s a man who reviled against prejudice in his manifesto.
yet he was willing to kill somebody just because of what they were wearing that day.just because they were law enforcement officer.
only hours on from the murder of michael crane, christopher dorner’s spree was to hit the skids and detectives would soon have him in their sights.In 2013. california will be struck by a killing spree that would make waves around the world.
during that week to 10 -day period of time , detective would say thousands of police officers were involved
making his violent intentions public via an online manifesto
christopher dorner announced planS to target his former employers at the LAPD. he was going to seek revenge and that the police seek revenge in a very violent way.
four days into his spree, dorner had claimed the lives of three..
living another critical injured.
his indiscriminate killing initiating a statewide climate of fear .
there wasn’t much rationality that you could attribute to this individual that you could say , okay we know hwo’s safe and who’s not safe , so very much heightened sense of danger and vunlarbility
with police paranoia at an all- time high, they at last got a break in the case.
in a remote area on a dirt road ,
his burned out truck was found.
the one christopher dorner crashed his truck up in the mountain. the majority of law enforcement believed he was still up there.there was an initial concern that this fas faked and dorner was somewhere nearby ready to snipe.
people were worried , nobody knew where he was , people were on edge , people keeping weapons by the door, hopefully not that they ‘re gonna confront somebody like chritopher dorner.
the discovery was made on the edge of the mountain town of big bear
and would mark a turning point in what had now become one of the largest manhunts in california history.during the actual manhunt right after christopher dorner’s vehicle was found . there were hundreds of officers up there. all the police agencies , sheriff’s departements ,riverside police departement the search involved every level of law enforcement in the united states.
with dorner’s reputation for the unpredictable in mind,police proceeded with caution as they began their investigation.
he was well armed , he had access to assualt weapons and extremely high-powered assault weapons at that .
he had a large quantity of ammunition .he was very mobile.
with the normally tranquil ski resort overrun with detectives search for dorner began.
deputies say they searched 200 homes in 8 mile wooded area.where christopher dorner burnt-out truck was discovered.
knocking on doors ,going through fields and forests ,trying too see if they could locate him or find him.
you’re talking about thousands cabions in isolated areas and as many as they searched out there he had the advantage , no question.
he could easily find an unoccupied cabin and maybe break in and stay there .
the challendes of tracking dorners down in such hostile terrain would be considerable
just the element of suprise that he actaully had the benefit of.when you dont know where somebody is hiding,
it gives them an extreme advantage.
you didnt know if he was hiding behind a tree with a sniper rifle. the police were trudging around trying to locate him and he could be behind any tree or any corner waiting to shoot them and kill them. as the story began to break worldwide observers examine what might be driving droner to commit his crimes.
dorner ultimately realized was that in a sense his world was crumbling around him ,everything he had tried to accomplish and set out as goals whether it be in the military or in law enforcement didn’t end well for him ,he was a failure and he couldn’t deal with that ,he couldn’t accept that and he had nowhere else to go.and ultimately wrought retribution.
in the years that followed his dismissal from the LAPD.
Dorner would suffer further personal setbacks resulting in a steady slide depression .
being depressed as dorner suggested is not the sole reason why individuals engaged in spree killings.
no doubt he was depressed, what dorner had that was different to the millions of other people who become severely depressed ,that he had narcissistic tendencies he had acess to firearms and he also did a willingness to kill to prove his point.
with his life at its lowest ever
dorner began to ready himself for what he called his last resort.
after he was dismissed from the police department he was apparently bying and selling guns and supressors and ammunition and the whole time stewing about what had happened to him.
following the killings in Irvine and riverside ,dorner had fled to the mountains of southern california
search parties continued to scour Big Bear for any sign of the fuggitive killer. however their progress was slowed by hostile weather conditions
The SWAT and more than 120 heavily armed officers .have been combing the area for two days . the snow slowing but not stopping their search.
locals and authorities alike feared.christopher dorner may have slipped the net other then his bunred -out vehicle the police had o specific information that he was still in the big bear area.the longer at the time passed more and more people were thinking that he was gone.
however.such feelings would prove unfounded.12th of february 2013,12 :22 pm.mountain vista resort Big Bear.
911 received a call from holiday cabin owner Karen reynolds.
“911 emergency , what are you reporting?”
” we’ve been tied up by dorner.”
” you guys were tied up?”
” yeah ,tied up by him.”
he went in into a cabin where a couple arrived after he had broken into that cabin. and he held them ,tied them up and held them captive. the victim managed to free themselves they call the police and they report that he has taken their car.
with fresh information to hand , officers jim simons and mike medici now had a hot lead on a trail they feared had gon cold.
suspect left 14 to 30 minute ago and took keys to nissan rouge. the mission was to find dorner,was to find the car he was driving,was to try to out think him where he was going next.
christopher dorner made it very clear that law enforcement officers were his targets.so yeah obivously heighten their awereness while officser simon and medici continued to pursue dorner
unsuspecting local resident rick helterbrake. would be confronted by the most wanted man in america. sees a crashed car and then he see dorner coming out of the snowbank right at him. rick remember him coming at him,he remember the vest, a big ballistic vest on with pockets in it . he’s got a gun right at rick’s head .he could tell it was som kind of assault rifle
rick put his truck in park dorner says ” i dont want to hurt you, just get out and start walking”.rick had that sese that he wasn’t one of his targets. he wanted to kill cops and rick wasn’t a cop. rick left the truck roughly in this position,got out an started walking up the road. rick realized he just got confronted by ther most wanted man in america and he let rick go.
after rick alerted authorities to his encounter with dorner the pursuit would hurtle towards its explosive end.
” all availble units to glass road and 38″
The terrain out there was wide open , nothing but trees and snow, the police had to look in a swivel for him because you didn’t know what three he was behind, what set of rocks he might be behind. the police knew he was not goinna go easy, they knew it was probably gonna end up in some type of confrontation involving gunfire.
san bernadino’s sheriff’s deputies alex collins and jeremiah mckay alos joined the chase.
jeremiah was very familiar with the Big Bear area he had been stationed up there as a deputiy with the same sheriff’s department so he was hot on mr dorner’s trail.
” are we sure he’s in the vehicle? and what track are we following , vehickle or foot?”
the radio traffic told detectives to go a direction which was a right turn for them . jeremiah went left , detectives did make that right turn according to the radio. they got to the intersection and that’s when they started hearing the gunfire.
“we have shotsfired. 7 oaks cabin.7 oaks cabin.”
” copy , shots fired 7 oaks cabin.”
as shots began to ring out , deputies collins and mckay found themselves in the line of fire.
“returning fire.”
” copy, returning fire”
” officer down ,officer down.”
” copy , officer down .”
alex collins had taken a shot to the face and another three to his chest, arm and leg.
dorners crosshairs would then fall on jeremiah mckay.detectives pulled up and saw jeremiah on the ground.
” another officer down.”
copy , another officer down”
detectives saw jeremiah mckay was down and he wasn’t moving it appeared he was dead.
christopher dorner had claimed another life
and had left another officer seriously wounded.
staging his last stand dorner barricaded himself into an uninhabited cabin taking tgaking aim at anyone in his sights.
” automatic fire coming inbound.”
mike medicic and jim simons would return fire. dorner started shooting at the deputies pinned down behind their vehicle.
“automatic fire inbound”
detectives immediately just started shooting at christopher dorner in the cabin trying to get him stop firing.
“all you would hear…thuds basically coming over your head.”
there was no quiestion in detectives mind dorner was not gonna just give up or stop
“SWAT is on scene”
more teams of officers responded.constant exchange of gunfire.
hundreds of hundreds of rounds being shot back and forth .
” deputies are still down in the kill zone”
dorner would start shooting at the deputies pin behind the car again.the rounds hitting their car
” they are popping off smoke to get the wounded deputies out”
under cover of smoke officers collins and mackay were were retrieved from the kill zone. deputy would receive treatment for his injuries.
as the gun battle raged officers moved in to pin down the man they had been hunting for.san berdino SWAT team started making a tactical plan
” we need the armoured vehicle”
” copy , we need the armoured vehicle”
at 4 :15 pm. more than two hours into the cabin siege and nine days since the spree began .dorners last chance of escape was about to go up in smoke
in 2013, christopher dorner would embark on a killing spree declaring his intent to dispatch
vigilante justice against his former employers at the LAPD. he was a ghost. you never knew wher he was or firing from.
the out -of- control ex -cop would take the life of four , in nine days.living two other victims critically wounded.
sought by law -enforcement athorities from across california , dorner would stage his last stand in a remote mountain cabin near the tourist town of Big Bear.
even with the cabin surrounded and the odds stacked against him dorner seemed determined to continue his fight until the last .
SWAT made an announcements to come out and that dorner would give himself up numerous times.periodically the gunfire from inside the cabin continued
at that point it was very obvious he had no intentions of giving up at all.
having refused all negotiations for over two hours at 4:15 pm SWAT teams would execute a plan designe to smoke dorner out ,deploying potent teargas canisters known as burners into the cabin.
” control 61 lincoln, we’re going to deploy gas burner”
ultimately the sheriff’s departement ended up throwing in smoke canister, which kind of explodes and expels the gas with a flame.
“we have a fire.”
unfortunately that started a fire inside the cabin.the whole time police never got any communication back from christopher dorner in any way. no intentions of turning himself in or giving himself up.
“okay guys ,be ready on the number 4 side ,we have fire in the front, he might come out the back”
watching events unfold live on TV dorners former friend ,james felt mixed emotions.
” its bizzar to sit here watching the TV screen, the cabin was on fire.that was the moment where i kind of knew that ..okay , my friend ‘s gonna die and there’s nothing there’s nothing anybody can do about it.he aint coming out of that alive.”
-james.
shortly after the cabin became engulfed by flames a single sound emerged the hut.
“it sounded like one shot fired from inside the Oak residence”
that signaled the end of nine days that would rank a some of the most chaotic in californias recent history .
” copy , one shot fired from inside the residence”
“we heard a single gunshot which we believed was christopher dorner committing suicide taking his own life”
” even in death , you know ,he denied reality”
” i think he took the cowardly way out”
” he was man enough to take the lives of several people but he wasn’t not man enough to do the time for it.”
” he chose the narcissists way out by ending his own life making the final decision over life and death he chose to control what happened to him – not the police”
for detectives and citizens alike , the end of dorners spree offered a chance to refelct on the events of previous nine days.
as the smoke from the smoldering cabin began to clear thoughts turned towards what could have been behind dorner’s decision to conduct his killing spree.
” dorner was in his 30s at the time ,this is a time in many men’s lives when they feel they should be reaching the pinnacle of success and instead dorner was sliding downhill fast and it’s that lack of success that made him believe that there was little hope for the future and he was going to get even through the barrel of a gun.”
he’s taken on this anger and fury and personalized it and at that point he starts to lose sense of reality and focus more on this idea of gaining revenge.
” its not something you ever would have expected but you ..i mean can you honestly say that there’s is anybody you’ve ever met who you would expect would be a killer someday.i mean noboydy expects that of other people “
-james.
like many other grudge spree killers dorner is clearly laying the blame at thefeet of his victims he’s prepared to murder a number of individuals and see it as being a justifiable crime. this forms part of his narcissistic personality ,he’s more keen on getting his version of events across than any remorse he may feel for the victims.
without the bravery displayed by officers in the line of duty.
the outcome of dorner’s spree , may have been far graver.
law enforcement is full of heroes ,the men and women of all agencies that participated in the manhunt for dorner acted as heroes.and every one of them faced danger every time they put on this uniform and went out into public and they know it.
what is beyond doubt is that loss of innocent life suffered at dorners’ hand over those nine days was sensless. dorner never killed anybody that knew him or anybody that had any direct connection with all that things that he thought had been done wrong to him , all of his four victims were completely innocent.
more details
The owners of the cabin where ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner died in 2013 will receive $200,000.
Bloody standoff: This aerial photo shows the scene of the gunbattle between sheriff’s deputies and Dorner near the cabin where he is believed to have been killed
A battering ram, shown above, was used to tear down walls of the cabin with Dorner inside. Police also lobbed tear gas grenades into the cabin.
This is where it ended for Dorner. After police threw tear gas canisters into the cabin it caught on fire, a development not intended, according to a law enforcement spokesperson.
The image above shows nothing but debris was left of the cabin as cops kept firefighters away from the scene, deeming it too dangerous. Dorner predicted his death, writing, “My personal casualty means nothing.”
A San Bernardino County sheriff’s SWAT team returns to the command post at Bear Mountain in Big Bear after searching for Christopher Dorner Feb. 8, 2013. (Staff file photo by Will Lester, The Sun/SCNG)
Fugitive ex-police officer Christopher Dorner, 33, hid in this condo about 100 feet across the street from the command post five years ago. Photographed on Sunday, Feb. 4. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)
San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies search door-to-door along Willow Avenue in Big Bear for ex-LAPD fugitive Christopher Dorner Feb. 9, 2013. (File photo by Will Lester/San Bernardino Sun-SCNG)
San Bernardino County sheriff’s crime scene tape is left in the snow near a cabin on Club View Drive where fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner allegedly stayed for an unknown period of time while multiple law enforcement agencies searched the mountain area in Big Bear on Feb. 13, 2013. (Staff file photo by Rachel Luna, The Sun/SCNG)
San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies collected what is believed to be handgun and silencer belonging to fugitive Christopher Dorner from an area along Glass Road as seen in Seven Oaks Feb. 15, 2013. (Staff file photo/The Sun-SCNG)