LOS ANGELES — A former Navy reservist who was fired from the
Los Angeles Police Department in 2008 has gone on a murderous rampage aimed at
police cops and their families, law enforcement officials said Thursday,
killing at least three people — including an 11-year veteran of the Riverside
Police Department — and setting off a huge manhunt across Southern California.
The police were on high alert in a dragnet that appeared to
rattle even a part of the country familiar with sweeping police hunts.
Protection teams were dispatched overnight to guard uniformed cops and their
families, scores of cops set up lines of defense outside the fortress that is
the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, and motorcycle cops were
ordered to retreat to the safety of patrol cars.
In Torrance, two women delivering newspapers were shot and
wounded by police cops who mistook the Toyota pickup they were driving for the
one identified as belonging to the gunman, a gray Nissan. 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, 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.
The suspect was identified as Christopher J. Dorner, 33, who
worked for the Police Department from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Dorner posted a
rambling and threatening note on his Facebook page, which police referred to as
“his manifesto,” complaining of severe depression and pledging to kill cops 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 cops 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 cop 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 cops 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 cops assigned to protect an
cop 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 cops parked at a traffic light in a patrol car and opened
fire, killing one and seriously wounding the second.
“The Riverside cops were cowardly ambushed,” Chief Beck
said. “They had no opportunity to fight back, no pre-warning.”
At Big Bear, police officials said they were prepared to
search through the night, weather permitting: a winter snowstorm was
approaching. Sheriff John McMahon of San Bernardino County said that footprints
had been found in the show leading from the abandoned vehicle; he would not say
where they led.
Sheriff McMahon said that about 125 law enforcement cops
were going door-to-door in the area searching for the suspect, looking for
signs of forced entry and making certain that residents there were safe.
The authorities were concerned that the gunman would expand
his choice of targets. “This is a vendetta against all Southern California law
enforcement, and it should be seen as such,” Chief Beck said
More than a dozen law enforcement agencies across Southern
California — from Riverside, east of Los Angeles, down to San Diego — were
engaged in the search. Police vehicles crowded the freeways, where electronic
signs urged drivers to look out for the suspect’s vehicle.
F.B.I. agents staked out a home in Orange County where
neighbors said Mr. Dorner’s mother lived. Neighbors said that they had seen Mr.
Dorner on and off after he returned from a two-year deployment in the Middle
East in 2006. They all said he was a cordial and approachable neighbor.
“I don’t expect to see him anymore, because I know that this
is a hot area for him,” said Ike Gonzalez, who has lived there since 1973.
Mr. Dorner was dismissed after being charged with making
false statements about his training cop, who he alleged had kicked a suspect. A
review board ultimately found Mr. Dorner guilty. Mr. Dorner sued the
department, but both the trial court and an appellate court upheld his
termination.
In his online manifesto, Mr. Dorner railed against the cops
involved in his hearing. “You destroyed my life and name because of your
actions,” he wrote. “Time is up.”
“I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m
terminating yours,” he wrote. “Look your wives/husbands and surviving children
directly in the face and tell them the truth as to why your children are dead.”
An earlier version of this article misstated the service
status of one of the shooting victims, an cop with the Riverside Police
Department. He had been with the department for 11 years, not 14.
The
plague of mentally unstable cops: Shooting Suspect’s Racism Allegations Resound
for Some
LOS ANGELES — For the Los Angeles Police Department, the
allegations of departmental corruption and racism by a former police cop now
accused of a revenge-fueled killing rampage are the words of a delusional man,
detached from the reality of the huge improvements the force has undergone over
the years.
. “These are the rantings of a clearly very sick
individual,” William J. Bratton, a former department commissioner, said Friday.
“It would be a shame if he was able to rally to his cause people who remember
the bad old days of the L.A.P.D.”
Yet for whatever changes the department has undergone since
the days when it was notorious as an outpost of rampant racism and corruption,
the accusations by the suspect — however disjointed and unhinged — have struck
a chord. They are a reminder, many black leaders said, that some problems
remain and, no less significant, that memories of abuses and mistreatment
remain strong in many parts of this city.
“Our community doesn’t need this,” said the Rev. William D.
Smart, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of
Southern California. “We don’t need something like this opening old wounds.”
“While there been a lot of improvements, there’s still room
for improvement,” he said. “There is still one segment of our community that
historically distrusts the police force.”
Indeed, in posts on Facebook and in interviews, some black
residents offered at least a partial endorsement of the sentiments expressed by
the suspect, Christopher J. Dorner, in a manifesto posted on his Facebook page,
even as they made it clear that they did not condone the violence he is accused
of. Mr. Dorner, the subject of a manhunt, claimed that racism was a factor in
his dismissal from the department in 2008, and that it was as endemic in the
force as ever.
“We look at the police differently from the way you look at
the police,” said Hodari Sababu, 56, a tour guide who has lived in the South
Central section of Los Angeles for 40 years. “In your community, the police is
there to protect and serve; in my community, the police are there to harass and
to insult and to kill if they get a chance.”
Charles Hutchinson, 72, a tennis coach who lives in Los
Angeles, said he believed Mr. Dorner’s story that he had witnessed a fellow cop
kick a suspect. Mr. Dorner was dismissed on charges that he had falsified that
report.
“These things happen all the time,” he said. “I truthfully
think that he was wronged by the Police Department. I think that senior cop
kicked that homeless guy, they do that all the time.”
Yet even as he said that, Mr. Hutchinson was quick to add
that the situation had improved markedly from the days when William H. Parker
III ran a force notorious for profiling and beatings. And no matter the
lingering perceptions, the evidence reflects that change.
As Mr. Bratton noted, polls have increasingly shown the
department’s image has improved across the board, including among blacks and
Latinos. Whites now make up less than one-third of the force, a sharp
turnaround from 30 years ago.
“There has been a huge change,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a
law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who wrote a report on
departmental abuses, in an e-mail. But, he added, “It would be naïve and misguided
to say that racism in any institution is entirely a thing of the past.”
Charlie Beck, the police chief, said he did not give any
credence to the claims Mr. Dorner made about racism in the department.
“You’re talking about a homicide suspect who has committed
atrocious crimes,” he said. “If you want to give any attribution to his
ramblings on the Internet, go right ahead. But I do not.”
Mr. Dorner was dismissed on the recommendations of a police
board that found he had filed a false report claiming to have witnessed a
partner kick a homeless man in the process of an arrest. Mr. Dorner sought
without success to have the court overturn his dismissal.
Three witnesses to the arrest said that they had not seen
the alleged assault; the father of the homeless person said that his son told
him that he had been kicked.
Chief Beck — and Mr. Bratton, who said he had also reviewed
the file — said he had no doubt that Mr. Dorner’s dismissal was appropriate.
“That case was thoroughly adjudicated; it was reviewed at
multiple levels,” the chief said at a news conference. “In the final analysis,
you’ll find Dorner’s statements to be self-serving, and the statements of
someone who is thoroughly unhappy with his lot in life.”
Still, in some black neighborhoods, where the case has been
followed extremely closely, there was evidence of skepticism about how Mr.
Dorner was treated by the department.
“Black people feel like we’ve been targets for so long,
we’ve always felt that the L.A.P.D. was corrupt,” said Kim Pace, 45, a bus
driver from Carson. “So for us, it’s like, O.K., they pushed him over the
edge.”
Mr. Sababu, the tour guide, said the sight of a police cop
kicking a suspect was not uncommon in the history of South Central Los Angeles.
“Here you have an cop that’s actually standing up for a citizen and saying,
‘That’s wrong, why are you kicking that guy in the face?’ and for his efforts,
he’s fired,” he said.
Mr. Bratton expressed concern at the fallout of Mr. Dorner’s
statements, suggesting that they might become a rallying cry for the
disaffected. “Just look at the Facebook postings around this issue and some of
the crazies that come out of the woodwork who are rallying to this guy’s
cause,” he said.
Mr. Smart said there had been significant improvements in the
Police Department’s standing with minorities over the past decade, even if some
problems remained. He expressed concern that the nuances of that situation
could be lost.
“While there’s been a lot of improvement, there’s still a
need to make better relations,” he said. “Whether or not all these things
happened to him or not, this is causing some people — you can see this on
Facebook, on the articles online — to say, ‘I told you so.’ ”
The
plague of mentally unstable cops: Alleged cop killer Christopher Dorner's
rambling manifesto: The most chilling and bizarre statements
The official military
photo of former LAPD cop Christopher Dorner, who is suspected in multiple fatal
shootings.
Southern California police are still chasing Christopher
Dorner, the former LAPD cop and Navy veteran who allegedly killed a young
Orange County couple and a cop in what seems like a violent quest for revenge.
Authorities warn that Dorner is well-armed, professionally trained, and
extremely dangerous.
It all started Sunday
when Monica Quan, 27, the daughter of retired LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, was found
shot dead in a parked car outside her Irvine condo along with her fiance, Keith
Lawrence. Quan's father reportedly represented Dorner in the hearings that led
to his dismissal. The attacks continued this week when two Riverside motorcycle
cops pulled up to a stoplight, where an adjacent vehicle unleashed multiple
rifle rounds at them. One cop died and the other is seriously wounded but
expected to recover. Dorner is the suspect in both shootings.
According to a
rambling manifesto Dorner posted to Facebook earlier this week, the bloodshed
is just beginning. "I know most of you who personally know me are in
disbelief to hear from media reports that I am suspected of committing such
horrendous murders and have taken drastic and shocking actions in the last
couple of days," he wrote. "You are saying to yourself that this is
completely out of character of the man you knew who always wore a smile
wherever he was seen. I know I will be villified by the LAPD and the media.
Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake
and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my
name. The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It
has gotten worse."
So begins the lengthy
11-page rant (read it in its entirety here), which outlines a lifetime of
personal grievances from grade school to the LAPD; shout-outs to celebrities
and politicians; thoughts on everything from the NRA to Trayvon Martin; and
allegations of possible brain damage from playing high school football. Here, a
look into the mind of an accused murderer [sic throughout]:
On the events leading
to his dismissal:
In 8/07 I reported an
cop [NAME REDACTED], for kicking a suspect (excessive force) during a Use of
Force while I was assigned as a patrol cop at LAPD's Harbor Division. While
cuffing the suspect, [REDACTED], [THE COP] kicked the suspect twice in the
chest and once in the face. The kick to the face left a visible injury on the
left cheek below the eye. Unfortunately after reporting it to supervisors and
investigated by PSB [REDACTED], nothing was done. I had broken their supposed
"Blue Line". […] In addition to [THE SUSPECT] stating he was kicked,
his father [REDACTED], also stated that his son had stated he was kicked by an
cop when he was arrested after being released from custody. This was all
presented for the department at the BOR hearing. They still found me guilty and
terminated me.
On why he's out for
revenge:
I have exhausted all
available means at obtaining my name back. 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 lost my position as
a Commanding Cop of a Naval Security Forces reserve unit at NAS Fallon because
of the LAPD. I've lost a relationship with my mother and sister because of the
LAPD. I've lost a relationship with close friends because of the LAPD. In
essence, I've lost everything because the LAPD took my name and new I was
INNOCENT!!!
On being a cop killer:
No one grows up and
wants to be a cop killer. It was against everything I've ever was. As a young
police explorer I found my calling in life. But, As a young police cop I found
that the violent suspects on the street are not the only people you have to
watch.
On his plan for vengeance:
The Violence of
action will be HIGH. I am the reason TAC alert was established. I will bring
unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or
off duty. ISR is my strength and your weakness. You will now live the life of
the prey. Your RD's and homes away from work will be my AO and battle space. I
will utilize every tool within INT collections that I learned from NMITC in Dam
Neck. You have misjudged a sleeping giant.
On Michelle Obama's haircut:
Off the record, I
love your new bangs, Mrs. Obama. A woman whose professional and educational accomplishments
are second to none when compared to recent First wives.
On President Obama, whom he didn't vote for:
Before you start with
your argument that you believe I would vote for Obama because he has the same
skin color as me, f*** you. I didn't vote in this last election as my choice of
candidate, John Huntsman, didn't win the primary candidacy for his party. Mr.
President, I haven't agreed with all of your decisions but of course I haven't
agreed with all of your predecessors decisions. I think you've done a hell of a
job with what you have been dealt and how you have managed it.
On Mitt Romney:
Romney, stop being a
sore loser. You could've exited graciously and still contributed significantly
to public service, not now.
On possible brain injury from playing football:
If possible, I want
my brain preserved for science/research to study the effects of severe
depression on an individual's brain. Since 6/26/08 when I was relieved of duty
and 1/2/09 when I was terminated I have been afflicted with severe depression.
I've had two CT scans during my lifetime that are in my medical record at
Kaiser Permanente. Both are from concussions resulting from playing football.
The first one was in high school, 10/96. The second was in college and occurred
in 10/99.
On bullying and race:
Journalist, I want
you to investigate every location I resided in growing up. Find any incidents
where I was ever accused of being a bully. You won't, because it doesn't exist.
It's not in my DNA. Never was. I was the only black kid in each of my
elementary school classes from first grade to seventh grade in junior high and
any instances where I was disciplined for fighting was in response to fellow
students provoking common childhood schoolyard fights, or calling me a n*****
or other derogatory racial names. I grew up in neighborhoods where blacks make
up less than 1%. My first recollection of racism was in the first grade at
Norwalk Christian elementary school in Norwalk, CA. A fellow student,
[REDACTED] if I can recall, called me a n***** on the playground. My response
was swift and non-lethal. I struck him fast and hard with a punch an kick. He
cried and reported it to a teacher. The teacher reported it to the principal.
The principal swatted [REDACTED] for using a derogatory word toward me. He then
for some unknown reason swatted me for striking [REDACTED] in response to him
calling me a n*****.
On film and TV:
It's kind of sad I
won't be around to view and enjoy The Hangover III. What an awesome trilogy.
Todd Phillips, don't make anymore Hangovers after the third, takes away the
originality of its foundation. World War Z looks good and The Walking Dead
season 3 (second half) looked intriguing. Damn, gonna miss shark week.
On Joe Biden:
Mr. Vice President,
do your due diligence when formulating a concise and permanent national AWB
plan. Future generations of Americans depend on your plan and advisement to the
president. I've always been a fan of yours and consider you one of the few
genuine and charismatic politicians. Damn, sounds like an oxymoron calling you
an honest politician. It's the truth.
On Hillary Clinton:
You'll make one hell
of a president in 2016. Much like your husband, Bill, you will be one of the
greatest. Look at Castro in San Antonio as a running mate or possible secretary
of state. He's (good people) and I have faith and confidence in him. Look after
Bill. He was always my favorite President. Chelsea grew up to be one hell of an
attractive woman. No disrespect to her husband.
On New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie:
What can I say?
You're the only person I would like to see in the White House in 2016 other
than Hillary. You're America's no s*** taking uncle. Do one thing for your
wife, kids, and supporters. Start walking at night and eat a little less, not a
lot less, just a little. We want to see you around for a long time. Your
leadership is greatly needed.
On the NRA:
Wayne LaPierre,
President of the NRA, you're a vile and inhumane piece of s***. You never even
showed 30 seconds of empathy for the children, teachers, and families of Sandy
Hook. You deflected any type of blame/responsibility and directed it toward the
influence of movies and the media. You are a failure of a human being. May all
of your immediate and distant family die horrific deaths in front of you.
On the news media:
Chris Matthews, Joe
Scarborough, Pat Harvey, Brian Williams, Soledad Obrien, Wolf Blitzer, Meredith
Viera, Tavis Smiley, and Anderson Cooper, keep up the great work and follow
Cronkite's lead. I hold many of you in the same regard as Tom Brokaw and the
late Peter Jennings. Cooper, stop nagging and berating your guest, they're your
(guest). Mr. Scarborough, we met at McGuire's pub in P-cola in 2002 when I was
stationed there. It was an honor conversing with you about politics, family,
and life.
On George H.W. Bush:
The honorable
President George H.W. Bush, they never give you enough credit for your
successful Presidency. You were always one of my favorite Presidents (2nd
favorite). I hope your health improves greatly. You are the epitome of an
American and service to country.
On Gen. David Petraeus:
General Petraeus, you
made a mistake that the majority of men make once, twice, or unfortunately many
times in a lifetime. You are human. You thought with your penis. It's okay.I
personally believe you should have never resigned and told your critics to
shove it. You only answer to two people regarding the affair, your wife and
children, period. I hope you return to government service to your country as it
is visibly in your DNA.
On Ellen DeGeneres:
Ellen Degeneres,
continue your excellent contribution to entertaining America and bringing the
human factor to entertainment. You changed the perception of your gay community
and how we as Americans view the LGBT community. I congratulate you on your
success and opening my eyes as a young adult, and my generation to the fact
that you are know different from us other than who you choose to love.
On Tim Tebow:
Tebow, I really
wanted to see you take charge of an offense again and the game. You are not a
good QB by todays standards, but you are a great football player who knows how
to lead a team and WIN. You will be "Tebowing" when you reach your
next team. I have faith in you. Get out of that circus they call the Jets.
On Anthony Bourdain:
Anthony Bourdain,
you're a modern renaissance man who epitomizes the saying "too cool for
school".
On comedy:
Larry David, Kevin
Hart, the late Patrice Oneal, Lisa Lampanelli, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld,
Louis CK, Dave Chapelle, Jon Stewart, Wanda Sykes, Dennis Miller, and Jeff Ross
are pure geniuses. I'm a big fan of all of your work. As a child my mom caught
me watching Def Jam comedy at midnight when I should have been asleep. Instead
of scolding me, the next night she let me stay up late and watch George Carlin,
Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor comedy specials with her for hours. My sides
were sore for days.
On Anonymous:
Anonymous, you are
hated, vilified, and considered an enemy to the state. I personally view you as
a culture and a necessity that brings truth to a cloaked world. Forge ahead!
On George Zimmerman:
If you continuously
followed me while I was walking at dusk/night I would confront you as well. Too
bad Trayvon didn't smash your skull completely open, Zim.