LAPD: Ex-officer suspect in Riverside cop killing
LOS ANGELES — Police launched a massive manhunt for a former Los Angeles officer suspected of killing a couple over the weekend and opening fire on four officers early Thursday, killing one and critically wounding another, authorities said.
The search for Christopher Dorner, who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2008 for making false statements, began after he was linked to the weekend killing in which one of the victims was the daughter of a former police captain who had represented him during those disciplinary proceedings.
Early Thursday, police came under fire in two separate shootings in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles.
The first occurred in Corona and involved two LAPD officers working a security detail, LAPD Sgt. Alex Baez. One officer was grazed. Later, two officers on routine patrol in neighboring Riverside were ambushed at a stop light, said Riverside Lt. Guy Toussaint. One died and the other was in surgery.
The Riverside officers shot overnight were not actively looking for Dorner, Toussaint said.
Dorner is wanted in the killings of Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, who were found shot to death in their car at a parking structure Sunday night, Irvine police Chief David L. Maggard said at a news conference Wednesday night.
Dorner, 33, implicated himself in the killings with a multi-page "manifesto" that he wrote that included threats against several people, including members of the LAPD, police said. They gave no further details on the document or its contents.
Police said the U.S. Navy reservist may be driving a blue 2005 Nissan Titan pickup truck. His last known address was in La Palma in northern Orange County near Fullerton.
