Fugitive Ex-Cop Was Hiding in Plain Sight in House Just HALF a MILE From Police Command Center... as It Is Revealed Officer NEVER Searched the Neighborhood

by Michael Zennie, Thomas Durante, and Lydia Warren
Daily Mail

Dramatic new details have emerged today about the moment police smashed their way into the mountain cabin where Christopher Dorner made his last stand.

Aerial photos show the small building burned to the ground after it caught fire following a raging gun battle in which the fugitive ex-LAPD cop shot dead one sheriff's deputy and gravely wounded another in the mountains of San Bernardino National Forest on Tuesday.

According to one report, furious SWAT officers shouted 'burn that f****** house down!' before the cabin went up in flames. An armored police vehicle knocked down the walls of the cabin in an attempt to flush Dorner out.

It was revealed on Wednesday afternoon that police used incendiary tear gas canisters – which are known to cause fires – in an attempt to flush Dorner out. The CS gas canisters are similar to the type that caused the 1993 blaze in Waco, Texas, that killed 76 members o the Branch Davidian cult.

Authorities believe the charred human remains found in the basement of the cabin are Dorner, 33. A single gunshot was heard from the cabin before it was fully engulfed in the blaze.

Police departments, local governments, business leaders and police unions pool their money to offer a $1million reward two days before Dorner's capture. It is unknown who will collect the cash now that Dorner is dead.

Officers tracked Dorner to the cabin after a California Fish and and Wildlife game warden spotted him driving a truck he had carjacked from a Boy Scout leader.

During the pursuit, Dorner rolled down the window of the truck and opened fire on the conservation officer with a handgun – striking his patrol vehicle several times.

The warden, a 35-year-old former U.S. Marine, got out of his car and fired 20 rounds with a high-power .308-caliber M-14 battle rifle – a semiautomatic weapon that offers much more power than traditional assault rifles, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Those rounds are thought to have caused Dorner to crash his truck. He was forced to bail out and flee on foot to a nearby cabin.

It was there that heavily-armed SWAT officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office engaged the former U.S. Navy Reserve lieutenant in a running gun battle.

KCAL-TV captured terrifying footage of officers taking cover and firing into the cabin. Hundreds of rounds could be heard.

As the battle unfolded, Dorner tossed a smoke grenade and tried to escape out the back door of the structure.

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February 14, 2013

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