Fugitive search has LA on edge
$1 mil offered in hunt for ex-officer
IRVINE, Calif. — Police have evacuated a Los Angeles home improvement store after a caller said they had seen someone resembling a fugitive ex-police officer suspected of three killings.
Los Angeles police spokesman Gus Villanueva says the caller reported a sighting of 33-year-old Christopher Dorner on Sunday. Police were sent to the Northridge area but Villanueva couldn’t say whether the tip has turned out to be legitimate.
News helicopters showed police helping customers and employees leave a Lowe’s Home Improvement store. A command post has been established nearby.
The search since Thursday evening had focused on mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles where Dorner’s burned truck was found. But authorities have found no recent signs of Dorner.
LA officials announced a $1 million reward earlier Sunday for information leading to Dorner’s arrest.
Meanwhile in Big Bear Lake, Calif., camping gear was found along with weapons in-
side the burned-out truck belonging to Dorner, authorities said Sunday.
The Nissan pickup found Thursday was so charred that investigators couldn’t be more specific about the nature of its contents, said Los Angeles police Sgt. Rudy Lopez.
Police also were investigating a taunting phone call that may have been made by Dorner to the father of the woman they believe he killed last week. Two law enforcement officers who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation told The Associated Press on Sunday they are trying to determine if the call days after the killing was made by the 33-year-old fugitive or a man posing as him.
SWAT teams with air support and bloodhounds fanned out for the fourth day to search for Dor- ner, who has vowed revenge against several former LAPD colleagues whom he blames for ending his career.
The effort was significantly scaled back as the weekend went on, with 25 officers and a single helicopter looking for clues in the forest and going door-to-door at some 600 cabins in the San Bernardino mountains, about 80 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
Authorities suspect Dorner in a series of attacks in Southern California over the past week that have left three people dead. Authorities say he has vowed revenge against several former colleagues. The killings and threats that Dorner allegedly made in an online rant have led police to provide protection to 50 families, Beck said.
A captain who was named a target in the manifesto posted on Facebook told the Orange County Register he has not stepped outside his house since he learned of the threat.