Former LAPD officer Dorner charged with murder in Irvine
Remains at large
IRVINE, Calif.—Fired Los Angeles Police Department Officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, who has been the target of a massive weeklong police dragnet and is suspected of killing two people in Irvine, was charged today in Riverside County with capital murder for the shooting death of Riverside police Officer Michael Crain.
Crain was gunned down Thursday morning while on patrol with his partner, who was wounded in the shooting.
According to Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach, Dorner was also charged with three counts of attempted murder—for allegedly shooting Crain's partner and two LAPD officers who were fired upon shortly before the Crain shooting. One of the LAPD officers suffered a graze wound.
Dorner, 33, remains at large.
Zellerbach said the murder charge against Dorner includes the special-circumstance allegations of murder of a police officer in the performance of his duty, and intentional discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle.
The special-circumstance allegations make Dorner eligible for the death penalty, although Zellerbach did not say whether prosecutors actually seek capital punishment.
Dorner is also suspected of killing two people in Orange County on Feb. 3—28-year-old college basketball assistant coach Monica Quan and her fiance, 27-year-old Keith Lawrence, whose bodies were found in Lawrence's car in the parking structure of their Irvine condominium building.
Orange County prosecutors have not announced any charges against Dorner, although an arrest warrant was issued under seal by a Superior Court judge on Wednesday. According to a federal arrest warrant affidavit filed Thursday, that arrest warrant notes that Dorner has been charged with multiple counts of
murder.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said today the department’s review of Christopher Dorner’s firing could take several months, but he vowed that the case would be looked at fairly and stressed that “we have to remember the victims” of the man accused of killing four people.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A fired Los Angeles police officer who was accused of killing four people and whose charred remains were found inside a burned-out Big Bear cabin after a shootout with law enforcement authorities died from a single gunshot wound to the head, San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials said today.
RIVERSIDE, Calif.—A “sigh of relief.” A widow’s restrained sobs. The lingering fear of the targets, waiting to hear whether their pursuer had truly been run to ground.
Los Angeles police maintained watch over some of their own Thursday, not ready to let down their guard completely until investigators can say for sure that the charred human remains found inside a burned mountain cabin are those of Christopher Dorner.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Charred remains found in the aftermath of a deadly gunbattle and fire at a Big Bear cabin were positively identified today as those of a fugitive ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer accused of killing two people in Irvine, a Riverside police officer and a San Bernardino County sheriff’s detective.
Officials in San Bernardino County said they used dental records to identify the remains of 33-year-old Christopher Jordan Dorner.
