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| San Bernardino County Sheriff's officer Ken Owens searches a home for the former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner in Big Bear Lake, Calif, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. The hunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected in three killings entered its fourth day in the snow-covered mountains on Sunday, a day after the police chief ordered a review of the disciplinary case that led to the fugitive's firing and new details emerged of the evidence he left behind. |
SAN DIEGO
(AP) -- U.S. border inspectors are warning of unusually heavy traffic at
California border crossings into Mexico amid the search for a fugitive
ex-police officer wanted in the slayings of three people.
Customs
and Border Protection said Monday that it has joined efforts to find
33-year-old Christopher Dorner in Southern California. Heightened
vehicle inspections are producing delays at San Diego's San Ysidro
(ee-SEE'-droh) border crossing into Tijuana.
Baja
California state police agents assigned to search for American
fugitives have been given photographs of Dorner. International liaison
Alfredo Arenas says the Mexican agents have been warned to consider the
suspect armed and extremely dangerous.
Dorner was charged Monday with murdering a police officer and attempting to murder three others in Riverside County.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
A
fugitive ex-Los Angeles police officer was charged Monday with
murdering a Riverside police officer and special circumstances that
could bring the death penalty.
Christopher
Dorner was also charged with the attempted murder of another Riverside
officer and two Los Angeles Police Department officers, Riverside County
District Attorney Paul Zellerbach said.
The
LAPD officers and the Riverside officers were fired on in two separate
shootings early Thursday after Dorner became the target of a manhunt
suspected of killing a former LAPD captain's daughter and her fiance the
previous weekend.
"By both his words and
conduct, he has made very clear to us that every law enforcement officer
in Southern California is in danger of being shot and killed,"
Zellerbach said.
Authorities obtained a no-bail arrest warrant, which allows Dorner to be apprehended anywhere, Zellerbach said.
Southern
California authorities were investigating more than 600 tips after
offering a $1 million reward for information leading to Dorner's arrest.
"We need the community's help in this, there's a lot more of you than there are of us," said LAPD Deputy Chief Jose Perez.
The manhunt for Dorner, 33, has left the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department stretched thin.
Along
with responding to routine calls for service, police have been
protecting dozens of families considered possible targets of Dorner,
based on his alleged Facebook rant against those he held responsible for
ending his career with the LAPD five years ago.
Police
and city officials believe the reward, raised from both public and
private sources, will encourage the public to stay vigilant.
"Now
it's like the game show `Who Wants to be a Millionaire,'" said Anthony
Burke, supervisory inspector for the U.S. Marshals regional fugitive
taskforce. "Instead of one contestant, we've got 100,000, and there's
only one question you have to answer. All they have to answer is where
he's at, and we can take it from there."
LAPD
Chief Charlie Beck deflected questions about whether the reward would be
paid if Dorner was found dead or alive. He called the phrase "ugly" and
said he hoped no one else was injured in the ordeal, including the
suspect.
As the search dragged on, worrisome
questions emerged: How long could the intense search be sustained? And,
if Dorner keeps evading capture, how do authorities protect dozens of
former police colleagues?
LAPD Cmdr. Andrew
Smith said the department has deployed 50 protection details to guard
officers and their families who were deemed possible targets.
And there are no plans to reduce protection until Dorner is in custody, Los Angeles police Sgt. Rudy Lopez said.
"We
realize it costs money and it gets expensive," said Chuck Drago, a
Florida-based police consultant. "But this is as clear of a threat as
you can get. The money is always an issue but not when it's somebody's
life at stake."
One tip led police to surround
and evacuate a Lowe's Home Improvement store on Sunday in the San
Fernando Valley, but a search yielded no evidence that Dorner had been
there.
Residents remained on edge in suburban
Irvine, where the first two killings occurred. Some residents have kept
their children at home, others no longer walk their dogs at night.
"If
he did come around this corner, what could happen? We're in the
crossfire, with the cops right there," said Irvine resident Joe Palacio,
who lives down the street from the home of retired police Capt. Randal
Quan, who is being protected.
"I do think about where I would put my family," he said. "Would we call 911? Would we hide in the closet?"
Monica Quan and her fiance were found shot dead on Feb. 3 in Irvine. Dorner was named as the suspect on Wednesday.
A
federal agent who requested anonymity because of the ongoing
investigation said officials had determined a call telling Randal Quan
that he should have done a better job of protecting his daughter was a
prank.
The violence escalated Thursday, when
police say Dorner got into a shootout with police in Corona, grazing an
LAPD officer's head with a bullet before escaping. Authorities believe
Dorner then used a rifle to ambush the two Riverside police officers,
killing one and seriously wounding another.
Until
Sunday, police had withheld the names of victims, fearing Dorner might
target their families. But Riverside police said the officer killed was
Michael Crain, 34, an ex-Marine and 11-year department veteran.
Officials
decided to proceed with the identification and public memorial despite
the possible dangers, Riverside police Chief Sergio Diaz said.
"We're not going to fail our officer and our hero," Diaz said. "We're going to bury him."
In
Torrance, a pickup truck was peppered with police bullets during the
manhunt, prompting a lawyer for the driver to accuse officers of being
reckless.
Surfer Dan Perdue was driving to the
beach Thursday when his Honda Ridgeline was stopped by officers
guarding the home of a law enforcement official.
After driving away, the Ridgeline was hit by a squad car. It spun around and officers began shooting.
Perdue wasn't wounded, his attorney Robert Sheahen told the Daily Breeze of Torrance.
A
police statement said officers took appropriate action as Perdue's
truck, which resembled the Nissan Titan of Dorner, was leaving the area.
Late
last week, the manhunt focused on Big Bear in the San Bernardino
Mountains, where authorities found Dorner's burned-out truck with
weapons and camping gear inside.
Authorities searched there for the fifth day on Monday, using helicopters equipped with heat-sensing technology.
