Christopher Dorner Autopsy: Cause of Death Was Single Gunshot to Head - East Idaho News
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Christopher Dorner Autopsy: Cause of Death Was Single Gunshot to Head

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Getty N 020913 ChristopherJordanDorner?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1361030688016Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Christopher Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer who went on a killing rampage appeared to have killed himself, authorities said.

The autopsy showed that Dorner’s cause of death was a single gunshot to the head.

“The information that we have right now seems to indicate that the wound that took Dorner’s life was self inflicted,” said Capt. Kevin Lacy of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in a press conference Friday.

Dorner, 33, was found dead after a standoff with police. The cabin where Dorner barricaded himself in went up in flames on Feb. 12.

Authorities said police made “numerous PA announcements identifying [Dorner] by name, asking him to surrender,” before firing pyrotechnic tear gas inside the cabin Dorner had holed up in, causing the building to go up in flames.

“We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out,” San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters on Feb. 13.

Dorner’s charred remains were found inside the cabin. His body was positively identified during the autopsy through dental examination, the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office said in a written statement.

Authorities said that Dorner had been hiding out in an unoccupied cabin in Big Bear, Calif., for most of the manhunt, in close proximity to where they had set up command center in the area.

Karen and Jim Reynolds said they found Dorner in their cabin on Feb. 12. They said he may have been hiding out there since Feb. 8.

“He said four or five times that he didn’t have a problem with us, he just wanted to clear his name,” Jim Reynolds said. “He said, ‘I don’t have a problem with you, so I’m not going to hurt you.'”

Dorner tied the couple up, and put pillowcases over their heads before driving off in their purple Nissan. They managed to untie themselves once Dorner drove off and call the police, triggering the standoff at another cabin in the area that led to the building going up in flames.

Dorner outlined his anger at the Los Angeles Police Department for firing him in his 6,000 word “manifesto,” and made threats against individuals he believed were responsible for ending his career with the police force five years ago.

Dorner is suspected of killing Monica Quan and her fiancé, who were found shot to death in a car in their apartment complex on Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who Dorner had targeted in his “manifesto.”

Dorner is also suspected of killing Riverside, Calif., Police Officer Michael Crain.

San Bernardino Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremiah MacKay, 35, a 15-year veteran and the father of two children, was killed in the Feb. 12 standoff.

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