Chris Dorner Manhunt

Overview

Chris Dorner Manhunt was a police operation in search and capture of former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer Christopher Jordan Dorner who fatally shot and killed four victims across the counties of Southern California in February 2013. During the course of the operation, police officers shot several bystanding civilians after mistakenly identifying their vehicles as Dorner’s, which led some Los Angeles residents to wear tongue-in-cheek signs proclaiming they were “not Chris Dorner.”

Background

On September 4th, 2008, Dorner was terminated from the Los Angeles Police Department for falsely filing a report against officer Teresa Evans for excessive force. On February 1st, 2013, CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper received a package from Dorner containing a note and DVD describing his case against the LAPD, along with a challenge coin that had been shot. On February 3rd, Irvine, California resident Monica Quan and her fiance Keith Lawrence were found dead with gunshot wounds outside their condominium complex. Quan was the daughter of Randal Quan, a former LAPD captain and lawyer who represented Dorner during his dismissal from the police department in 2008.

Manifesto

On February 4th, 2013, a manifesto was posted on Dorner’s Facebook page, which explained his tumultuous history with the police department and motives for carrying out the attacks against his victims, naming Randal Quan and his family members as targets. The manifesto accused the LAPD of corruption and racism leading up to his firing and included the names of officers, locations and instructions for journalists. The manifesto also included a section thanking Dorner’s friends and family as well as special messages to several celebrities and organizations including Charlie Sheen, Anthony Bourdain and the Westboro Baptist Church.

Notable Developments

Civilian Shootings by Police

On February 7th, 2013, LAPD officers shot and wounded two Hispanic females, Maggie Caranza and Emma Hernandez, driving a blue Toyota Tacoma after they had mistaken it for Dorner’s 2005 grey Nissan Titan. Both victims stated they received no warnings prior to being fired upon. Approximately 25 minutes after the incident, police opened fire on a white male driving a black Honda Ridgeline, claiming it matched the description of Dorner’s vehicle. On February 9th, the LAPD issued a statement to the Los Angeles Times,^[4] which defended the officers who had opened fire on the civilians:

"The circumstances of the incident known to the responding officers would have led a reasonable officer under normal circumstances -- and these were far from normal circumstances -- to believe that fellow officers were being shot at and that the vehicle traveling toward them posed a serious risk. In the split seconds available to them, action was appropriate to intervene and stop the actions of the driver of that vehicle."

Online Reaction

On February 9th, 2013, eBay^[7] user bmxelvis111 placed bumper stickers with the message "Don't Shoot! / I'm Not Dorner!" up for sale on the online auction website (shown below).

The same day, actor Charlie Sheen uploaded a video to YouTube urging Dorner to call him (shown below).

On February 11th, NextGen host Michelle Fields tweeted a photograph of a man wearing a t-shirt with the phrase "Not Chris Dorner Please Do Not Shoot" written on the front.

The same day, Redditor rambleonfreddy submitted the photo to the /r/funny^[2] subreddit, where it received over 15,700 up votes and 400 comments within the next 24 hours. Also on February 11th, Redditor philleh87 uploaded a photo from his Facebook feed to the /r/funny^[5] subreddit, featuring a pickup truck with a sign on the back stating "Don't Shoot! Not Dorner Thank You" (shown below). In 24 hours, the post accumulated more than 25,900 up votes and 600 comments. In the next 24 hours, several news sites published posts about the "not Chris Dorner" meme, including The Atlantic Wire,^[11] RT^[8] and BuzzFeed.^[10]

On 4chan, a member placed an order for a pizza delivery to the location of the cabin that Dorner was trapped in.

4chan also created a mod for the video game Doom that same day titled "Chris Dorner's Last Stand". The video game simulated the events of the shootout at the Big Bear cabin.

Shootout in Big Bear

Editor's Note: We are live updating with the latest news reports from the shootout in Big Bear.

On February 12th, YouTuber Dorsey Shaw uploaded an audio clip from a gun battle between Dorner and police in Big Bear, California (shown below).

During the standoff, several reporters tweeted they had been asked by police to stop tweeting during the standoff to avoid hindering officer safety. Several tweets were subsequently published in a post on the social media news blog Twitchy.^[6] The same day, CNN^[12] reported that two officers had been wounded in the shootout. Later that day, the cabin was set on fire with conflicting reports on whether Dorner was killed or not. Authorities say it will take days before they can confirm whether or not the body in the cabin was that of Dorner^[14].

Death

During the Big Bear shoot out, seven burners were deployed into the cabin, setting it aflame. The authorities let the fire burn for hours, until it was cool enough to enter. Upon searching, they found the wallet of Chris Dorner and charred remains. After only a day of investigation, it was confirmed by the San Bernardino Police that it was indeed the body of Dorner.

The LAPD reported that they did not intentionally set the house aflame, but many disagree, due to scanner transcripts.

Search Interest

External References