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Dorner shootout: Wildlife officer spotted ex-cop on mountain road

By Julie Cart
, Phil Willon, Joel Rubin, Robert J. Lopez and Kate Mather
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California state officials provided more details about the first encounter between fugitive former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner and authorities Tuesday afternoon, prior to a gun battle with authorities that left one sheriff’s deputy dead and another injured.

A California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer encountered Dorner on California 38 while driving in the opposite direction, the department said. The wildlife officer recognized the wanted ex-officer and began to follow.

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A shootout ensued and Dorner escaped on foot, the department said. The officer called for backup, which included officers from Fish and Wildlife, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies.

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

The wildlife officer was not injured but his vehicle was riddled with bullet holes, officials said. The officer was one of six the state agency lent to the search effort in recent days.

Dorner was believed to be holed up in a nearby cabin, which was engulfed in flames by late Tuesday afternoon. Television footage showed thick black smoke and orange flames pouring out of the building.

The afternoon gun battle, in which hundreds of rounds were exchanged, was part of a quickly changing situation that began after Dorner allegedly broke into a home, tied up a couple and held them hostage. He then stole a silver pickup truck, sources said.

FULL COVERAGE: Sweeping manhunt for ex-cop

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He crashed the truck after encountering the wildlife officer, authorities said, and took refuge in the cabin. He was believed to be still inside the cabin Tuesday afternoon as officers swarmed the site.

ALSO:

Dorner shootout: 1 deputy killed, 1 wounded, sources say

Christopher Dorner held couple hostage in cabin, source says

Dorner shootout: ‘Hundreds of rounds’ fired during gun battle -- Julie Cart, Phil Willon, Joel Rubin, Andrew Blankstein, Robert J. Lopez and Kate Mather

L.A. Now
Julie Cart

Julie Cart is a former environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she’s also been a sportswriter and a national correspondent. In 2009, Cart and colleague Bettina Boxall won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. She left The Times in 2015.

Phil Willon

Phil Willon is an assistant editor based in the Sacramento bureau of the Los Angeles Times and guides coverage of California politics and assists with state capital coverage.

Joel Rubin

Joel Rubin is an associate editor for New Initiatives and executive producer of L.A. Times Studios. He previously was an assistant editor in Metro, overseeing the criminal justice team, and prior to that covered federal courts and agencies, the Los Angeles Police Department and the region’s public schools. A native of Maine, he moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to join the Los Angeles Times.

Robert J. Lopez

Robert J. Lopez is a Los Angeles Times investigative journalist. He was part of a team of Times reporters awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for uncovering corruption in Bell, a small city near Los Angeles. He and several Times colleagues were Pulitzer Prize finalists in 2023 for investigations that exposed corruption, criminality and worker exploitation in California’s legal cannabis market. Born and raised in L.A., he is a graduate of the University of Hawaii.

Kate Mather

Kate Mather covered crime, policing and breaking news across Southern California before leaving The Times in 2018 to attend law school. A native of Lawrence, Kan., she studied journalism at USC before first joining The Times in 2011. Mather was part of the team of reporters that received a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, as well as the team that was a Pulitzer finalist for its reporting on a deadly 2014 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif.

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