$1 MILLION REWARD–Los Angeles Police Public Information officers: Sara Faden, left, and Officer Norma Eisenman carry photos of suspect Christopher Dorner during a news conference at the LAPD headquarters in Los Angeles. At left, Assistant Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
by Tami Abdollah
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Seeking leads in a massive manhunt, Los Angeles authorities on Sunday offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner, the former police officer suspected in three killings.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the reward, raised through several private and public donors, at a news conference at LAPD headquarters.
“Our dedication to catch this killer remains steadfast,” Villaraigosa said. “We will not tolerate this reign of terror.”
Meanwhile, authorities said camping gear was found along with weapons inside Dorner’s burned-out pickup truck. The vehicle found Thursday in the ski resort town of Big Bear Lake was so charred that investigators couldn’t be more specific about the nature of its contents, Sgt. Rudy Lopez said.
Also Sunday, police investigated a taunting phone call that may have been made by Dorner to the father of the woman they believe he killed last week. Two law enforcement officers who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation told The Associated Press they are trying to determine if the call days after the killing was made by the 33-year-old fugitive or a man posing as him.
SWAT teams with air support and bloodhounds fanned out for the fourth day to search for Dorner, who has vowed revenge against several former LAPD colleagues whom he blames for ending his career.
The effort was significantly scaled back as the weekend went on, with 25 officers and a single helicopter looking for clues in the forest and going door-to-door at some 600 cabins in the San Bernardino mountains, about 80 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
On Saturday, Chief Charlie Beck said officials would re-examine the allegations by Dorner that his law enforcement career was undone by racist colleagues. 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.
“I do this not to appease a murderer. I do it to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all the things we do,” the chief said in a statement.
Authorities suspect Dorner in a series of attacks in Southern California over the past week that have left three people dead. Authorities say he has vowed revenge against several former colleagues. 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.
“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.”
Investigators have been examining the truck to determine if it broke down or was set ablaze as a diversion. Police say the truck had a broken axle. Investigators are trying to determine whether it was already broken when they found it, or whether it was damaged when it was towed away.
Also, newly released surveillance video showed Dorner tossing several items into a Dumpster behind an auto parts store in National City on Monday. The store’s manager told FOX5 in San Diego that an employee found a magazine full of bullets, a military belt and a military helmet. Majid Yahyai said he and the employee took the items across the street to a police station.
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.
In his online manifesto, Dorner 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 a 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.
The flight training that he received in the Navy prompted the Transportation Security Administration to issue an alert, warning the general aviation community to be on the lookout for Dorner. The extent of his potential flying skills wasn’t known, the bulletin said.
Feb. 1 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.
On Feb. 3, 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 wounding the other. A funeral for Officer Michael Crain, an 11 year veteran, was scheduled for Wednesday.
The crime spree spanned across a wide swath of Southern California, prompting several police agencies, including the FBI and US Marshall Service, to form a joint investigative task force.
Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton and Christopher Weber contributed to this report.
Abdollah can be reached at https://www.twitter.com/LATams.
Key events in the expansive, ongoing manhunt for Christopher Dorner, the fired Los Angeles police officer suspected of killing three people — including a police officer in Southern California — and posting a manifesto on Facebook outlining plans to kill the families of those he says have wronged him, all times approximate:
— Sunday, Feb. 3: An assistant women’s college basketball coach and her fiance are found shot to death in their car in Irvine, Calif. Police learn later the woman was the daughter of a retired Los Angeles police captain who represented Dorner in disciplinary hearings that resulted in his dismissal from the force.
— Monday, Feb. 4: Some of Dorner’s belongings, including police equipment, are found in a trash bin in suburban San Diego, linking him to Irvine killings.
— Wednesday, Feb. 6: Police announce finding Dorner’s manifesto online.
— 10:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6: A man matching Dorner’s description makes a failed attempt to steal a boat from a San Diego marina. An 81-year-old man on the vessel is tied up but otherwise unharmed.
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1:30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: LAPD officers, protecting person named in manifesto, chase a vehicle they believe is Dorner’s. One officer is grazed in the forehead by a bullet during a shootout, and the gunman flees.
A short time later, a shooter believed to be Dorner ambushes two Riverside police officers during a routine patrol. One officer is killed, and the other critically injured.
— 2:20 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: A shuttle bus driver turns in a wallet with an LAPD badge and a picture ID of Dorner to San Diego police. The wallet was found less than five miles from the boat, near San Diego International Airport.
— 5 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: LAPD officers guarding a manifesto target in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance open fire on a truck they mistakenly believe to be Dorner’s. A mother and daughter delivering the newspaper are injured.
A short time later, Torrance police are involved in a second shooting involving a different truck they also mistake for Dorner’s. Nobody is hurt.
—8:30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: Police find a burned-out pickup truck near the Big Bear ski area in the San Bernardino Mountains. Authorities later identify it as Dorner’s.
— 9:40 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego is locked down after a Navy worker reports seeing someone who resembles Dorner.
—4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 7: Authorities search a Las Vegas-area home belonging to Dorner and leave with several boxes of items. They say no weapons were found but decline to disclose what was discovered.
— Friday, Feb. 8: Dozens of searchers hunt for Dorner in the freezing, snowy San Bernardino Mountains after losing his footprints near the site where the truck was found. Authorities search Dorner’s mother’s house in La Palma and collect 10 bags of evidence, including five electronic items. Police also search a storage locker in Buena Park.
— Saturday, Feb. 9: Helicopters equipped with heat-seeking technology resume search for Dorner in the mountains near Big Bear. Authorities reveal that weapons were found in Dorner’s burned truck.
— Sunday, Feb. 10: Authorities announce $1 million reward for information leading to Dorner’s arrest.
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