A massive manhunt is underway for a fired Los Angeles Police Department officer who is believed to have gone on a revenge spree, killing three people, including a police officer, and injuring others.
Local, state, and federal investigators are searching for 33-year-old Christopher Jordan Dorner, who appears to have threatened “unconventional and asymmetrical warfare” against his former colleagues and their families in a rambling manifesto posted Monday on Facebook. Dorner, who worked at the LAPD from 2005 to 2008, was fired in 2009 for allegedly making false statements about his training officer.
After police uncovered the manifesto, the LAPD's Metropolitan squad was sent to protect the dozens of people he named.
“He is considered to be armed and dangerous,” said Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck at a press conference as helicopters buzzed over L.A.’s police station and uniformed officers were posted around the sprawling property. “We are talking about a man who has committed horrible crimes…It is a vendetta against all LAPD and law enforcement.”
The alleged murder spree began on Sunday when the bodies of Monica Quan, a Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach, and her fiancé Keith Lawrence were found dead in a parking garage in Irvine. Quan is the daughter of Randy Quan, a retired LAPD captain who took part in Dorner’s review process, which eventually led to his being fired. He is also mentioned in the Facebook post: "I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own…[so] I am terminating yours.
Irvine police found the newly engaged couple slumped in the seats in Lawrence's Kia, which was parked at the top of a five-story parking garage for the building where they lived. At the time, police said there was no evidence to indicate that the 28-year-old Quan and her 27-year-old fiancé were robbed. The coroner determined that the couple died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The search for Dorner, an expert marksman and former U.S. navy reservist, escalated Thursday after three Riverside County police officers were ambushed as they were stopped at a red light. One of the officers was killed.
Shortly before that, around 1:30 a.m., in Corona, two Los Angeles Police Department officers were involved in a shootout with Dorner, who is wearing army fatigues and is allegedly armed with a long gun and several other weapons and high-capacity magazines, while they were providing protection for a police official who was also mentioned in the online threats. One of the officers suffered a minor graze wound to his head.
On Wednesday, police say Dorner attempted to steal a boat at a yacht club in Point Loma, near San Diego, but was unsuccessful because the boat’s propeller got tangled up in rope. The boat owner told police that Dorner pulled a gun on him and tied him up, and told him he wanted to flee to Mexico. Hours later, Dorner’s LAPD badge and a briefcase were found near where he attempted to steal the boat.
In the crazed manifesto, Dorner claims that he was fired after he reported that a colleague kicked a suspect while he was a patrol officer with LAPD’s Harbor Division in August of 2007. “Unfortunately after reporting it to supervisors and investigated by [internal affairs], nothing was done. I had broken their supposed ‘Blue Line.’” Dorner said that he was relieved of duty 10 months later.
Dorner also wrote that he didn't mind dying, because he felt he was already dead when he lost his job with the LAPD. It was his lifelong dream to be an LAPD officer, he wrote, and his dream was quashed because of Quan, whom he blamed for his firing.
“The violence of action will be high,” he wrote. “I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty.”
At the press conference, Beck stated that Dorner “knows what he is doing,” and that his statements were “self serving.” He said Dormer was “extremely unhappy with his life.”