Dorner manhunt: FBI contacted about CNN parcel, official says

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The FBI has been notified about a package sent to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, allegedly by a former police officer suspected of killing three people who is leading authorities on a massive manhunt, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Cooper said Thursday his office had received the package from Christopher Jordan Dorner on Feb. 1 but he became aware of its existence Thursday.

Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in Los Angeles, confirmed to The Times that the agency was contacted about the parcel. She did not say whether the bureau was investigating.

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

The parcel contained several items, including an Los Angeles Police Department gold coin shot through with multiple bullet holes and wrapped in duct tape, a Post-It note and a DVD, according to Cooper. The coin was engraved with William J. Bratton’s name and labeled ‘Thanks but no thanks Will Bratton,’ in apparent reference to the former Los Angeles police chief.

Bratton told Anderson the coin was ‘a challenge coin’ –- a personal coin that he gave out to officers enlisted in the military and heading overseas ‘as a token of respect and good luck.’ Bratton said he did not recall Dorner nor “the specific set of circumstances for which I fired him.”

“I could understand his grievance directed toward me in my capacity as chief of police,” Bratton said during an interview with CNN. “But a lot of police officers get discharged, and none of them resort to the actions that this young man has taken.”

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

The Post-It note read in part: ‘I never lied! Here is my vindication. Evans kicked the suspect.’ The note appeared to be in reference to an incident that led to Dorner’s firing from the LAPD. Dorner alleged that he had witnessed his law enforcement partner, Teresa Evans, kick a mentally ill man while he was handcuffed. Investigators concluded there was no truth to Dorner’s claim. A discipline board found that Dorner had lied about the incident and fired him.

Several law enforcement agencies are involved in the manhunt for Dorner, and alerts have been issued all across California and in Nevada. The Los Angeles Police Department had dispatched units across the region to protect at least 40 officers and others named in a rambling online manifesto that law enforcement officials attributed to Dorner.

Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in 2008, is suspected of shooting three police officers, one of whom died, in Riverside County early Thursday.

FULL COVERAGE: Sweeping manhunt for rampaging ex-cop

He also is suspected of shooting and killing a couple in Orange County earlier this week as they sat in a car. One of the victims was the daughter of a former LAPD captain named in the purported manifesto.

Dorner is believed to be carrying multiple weapons, including an assault rifle.

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-- Robert J. Lopez, Matt Stevens and Times staff