Corrections officers join statewide manhunt for fugitive ex-cop

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California corrections officers have joined the statewide manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer wanted in connection with a series of shootings.

Members of the state’s Fugitive Apprehension Team, which usually hunts down parole violators, are part of the multiagency task force searching for Christopher Dorner, said Deborah Hoffman, assistant secretary of communications for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Hoffman said they are directly assisting the U.S. Marshals Service.

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

It is not uncommon for the corrections agency’s fugitive team to work alongside other law enforcement officials throughout California, she said.

Authorities early Thursday launched a search for Dorner, 33, after the Southern California shootings of three law enforcement officers, one of whom died. The hunt was widened later in the morning to include all of California and Nevada.

Dorner, fired from Los Angeles Police Department in 2009, is also suspected of killing a couple in Orange County earlier this week, including the daughter of one of the police officials Dorner allegedly blamed for the loss of his job.

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-- Paige St. John in Sacramento