LOS ANGELES — The manhunt continued on Friday for a former police offer who the authorities say has killed at least three people as part of a rampage aimed at police officers and their families, a spree that has given law enforcement officers throughout Southern California new reason to be vigilant.
The series of killings that the police say were committed by Christopher J. Dorner, 33, a former Navy reservist who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2008, has led the department to dispatch protection teams to guard uniformed officers and their families and to have scores of officers set up lines of defense outside the fortress that is the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters. Motorcycle officers have been ordered to retreat to the safety of patrol cars.
In Torrance on Thursday, two women delivering newspapers were shot and wounded by police officers who mistook the Honda pickup they were driving for the gray Nissan identified as belonging to the gunman. About 12 hours later in San Diego, squads of police cars, in a blaze of red lights and screeching tires, converged on a motel where the suspect was mistakenly thought to be hiding after his wallet was found on a sidewalk.
As night fell Thursday, the gray Nissan was found, destroyed by flames, at the side of a dirt road in a snowy, wooded area near Big Bear, a ski resort about 100 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The resort and local schools were closed as soon as the vehicle was discovered.
Mr. Dorner, who worked for the Police Department from 2005 to 2008, posted a rambling and threatening note on his Facebook page, which police referred to as “his manifesto.” In it, he complained of severe depression and pledged to kill officers to avenge his dismissal for filing a false report accusing a colleague of abuse.
In the note, Mr. Dorner said he had struggled to clear his name in court before resorting to violence.
The 6,000-word manifesto was bristling with anger and explicit threats, naming two dozen police officers he intended to kill. Mr. Dorner laid out grievances against a police department that he said remained riddled with racism and corruption, a reference to a chapter of the department’s history that, in the view of many people, was swept aside long ago.
The authorities responded by assigning special security details to protect the people named in the manifesto, and asked the news media not to publish their names.
“I have exhausted all available means at obtaining my name back,” he wrote. “I have attempted all legal court efforts within appeals at the Superior Courts and California Appellate courts. This is my last resort. The LAPD has suppressed the truth and it has now lead to deadly consequences.”
“I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty,” he wrote.
The police said that Mr. Dorner was traveling with multiple weapons, including an assault weapon. On his Facebook page, Mr. Dorner posted a certificate from the Department of the Navy attesting that he had completed a course of training to become an antiterrorism officer at the Center for Security Forces.
“Dorner is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous,” said Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department. “He knows what he’s doing; we trained him. He was also a member of the armed forces. It is extremely worrisome and scary, especially to the police officers involved.”
Mr. Dorner bragged about his lethal skills. “You are aware that I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualification in every unit I have been on,” he wrote.
The rampage began with a double homicide in Orange County on Sunday. One of the victims, Monica Quan, 28, was the daughter of a former Los Angeles police captain who had defended Mr. Dorner in his disciplinary proceedings.
On Wednesday, Chief Beck said, Mr. Dorner tried to hijack a boat in San Diego. Early Thursday morning, police officers assigned to protect an officer named by Mr. Dorner were alerted by a civilian who spotted a man resembling the suspect. As they followed him, Mr. Dorner opened fire as they approached him — grazing one in the head — before he fled, Chief Beck said.
Less than an hour later, the suspect approached two Riverside police officers parked at a traffic light in a patrol car and opened fire, killing one and seriously wounding the second.
“The Riverside officers were cowardly ambushed,” Chief Beck said. “They had no opportunity to fight back, no pre-warning.”
The series of killings that the police say were committed by Christopher J. Dorner, 33, a former Navy reservist who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2008, has led the department to dispatch protection teams to guard uniformed officers and their families and to have scores of officers set up lines of defense outside the fortress that is the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters. Motorcycle officers have been ordered to retreat to the safety of patrol cars.
In Torrance on Thursday, two women delivering newspapers were shot and wounded by police officers who mistook the Honda pickup they were driving for the gray Nissan identified as belonging to the gunman. About 12 hours later in San Diego, squads of police cars, in a blaze of red lights and screeching tires, converged on a motel where the suspect was mistakenly thought to be hiding after his wallet was found on a sidewalk.
As night fell Thursday, the gray Nissan was found, destroyed by flames, at the side of a dirt road in a snowy, wooded area near Big Bear, a ski resort about 100 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The resort and local schools were closed as soon as the vehicle was discovered.
Mr. Dorner, who worked for the Police Department from 2005 to 2008, posted a rambling and threatening note on his Facebook page, which police referred to as “his manifesto.” In it, he complained of severe depression and pledged to kill officers to avenge his dismissal for filing a false report accusing a colleague of abuse.
In the note, Mr. Dorner said he had struggled to clear his name in court before resorting to violence.
The 6,000-word manifesto was bristling with anger and explicit threats, naming two dozen police officers he intended to kill. Mr. Dorner laid out grievances against a police department that he said remained riddled with racism and corruption, a reference to a chapter of the department’s history that, in the view of many people, was swept aside long ago.
The authorities responded by assigning special security details to protect the people named in the manifesto, and asked the news media not to publish their names.
“I have exhausted all available means at obtaining my name back,” he wrote. “I have attempted all legal court efforts within appeals at the Superior Courts and California Appellate courts. This is my last resort. The LAPD has suppressed the truth and it has now lead to deadly consequences.”
“I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty,” he wrote.
The police said that Mr. Dorner was traveling with multiple weapons, including an assault weapon. On his Facebook page, Mr. Dorner posted a certificate from the Department of the Navy attesting that he had completed a course of training to become an antiterrorism officer at the Center for Security Forces.
“Dorner is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous,” said Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department. “He knows what he’s doing; we trained him. He was also a member of the armed forces. It is extremely worrisome and scary, especially to the police officers involved.”
Mr. Dorner bragged about his lethal skills. “You are aware that I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualification in every unit I have been on,” he wrote.
The rampage began with a double homicide in Orange County on Sunday. One of the victims, Monica Quan, 28, was the daughter of a former Los Angeles police captain who had defended Mr. Dorner in his disciplinary proceedings.
On Wednesday, Chief Beck said, Mr. Dorner tried to hijack a boat in San Diego. Early Thursday morning, police officers assigned to protect an officer named by Mr. Dorner were alerted by a civilian who spotted a man resembling the suspect. As they followed him, Mr. Dorner opened fire as they approached him — grazing one in the head — before he fled, Chief Beck said.
Less than an hour later, the suspect approached two Riverside police officers parked at a traffic light in a patrol car and opened fire, killing one and seriously wounding the second.
“The Riverside officers were cowardly ambushed,” Chief Beck said. “They had no opportunity to fight back, no pre-warning.”