The Manhunt For "Cop Killer" Christopher Dorner (Killing Spree) | Our Life

[Music] in 2013 a killing spree would unfold in california that would grip the united states deputies say the killer could be anywhere and grab headlines across the globe the man who did this was a monster targeting his former employers at the lapd he was willing to do anything to kill police officers and their families and to get away ex-cop christopher dorner would embark on a vigilante mission for vengeance he held a pistol out the window and fired multiple shots as the clock ticked the body count rose the truck had a window down assault rifle out of it and start shooting another officer and with it the question what could have provoked christopher dorner to commit his killing spree he was going to get even through the barrel of a gun [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now [Music] surrounded by the vast wilderness of the san bernardino national forest the tranquil mountain town of big bear is one of southern california's most popular tourist destinations [Music] big bear is a great little mountain town big bear in its environs its neighbors are a huge pine forest essentially we're out in the wilderness kind of you know i mean so that's what that's what people like here [Music] yet on february the 12th 2013 at the height of the normally bustling ski season the atmosphere and peace of this picturesque resort was shattered a manhunt underway right now for a former los angeles police officer accused of murdering three people law enforcement authorities from across the state had descended on the tranquil area as they sought a spree killer on the run we were all on edge you know we're all keeping weapons by the door people were taking precautions the lone gunman had left a trail of carnage across california's cityscape before hiding out in the mountains christopher dorner was now the most wanted man in america there is a possibility that he's out here and that's why we're out here searching the search involved every level of law enforcement in the united states [Music] i would say thousands of police officers were involved you know this was one of the largest deployments of policing agencies in my memory the threat posed by dorner was palpable any police officer that tried to arrest him or contact him would be a target and apprehending him would be a challenge for detectives that had little precedent mr dorner's military training his police training the type and nature of weapons that we knew that he had in his possession heightened our concerns we didn't get much sleep during that period of time after several days spent scouring the mountains it was believed that the elusive killer may have slipped the net he went to ground didn't leave any what we call a heat signature you couldn't find him however in the early afternoon of the 12th of february dorner broke cover and was reported to police sparking fresh life into the sprawling search efforts we heard the broadcast over the radio that dorner had been sighted threw our raid vests on and we just headed out we knew that he had already killed multiple people the first thing that was going through my mind is if we do find him we were going to be involved in a shooting with him dorner was not rational he was unpredictable willing to do anything to get away there was no question at least in my mind that this was going to end in more killing local scout camp leader rick helterbreak was on the mountain that day unaware of the drama that was beginning to unfold i came down the road i'm just checking the perimeter as i called all this right as you see is all my property all this stuff so i'm checking to make sure nobody's down here no snow players no vehicles basically just doing a security check so i'm driving up here just minding my own business a day like any other day roughly about in here someplace i see movement up here on the left i don't know what it is and right about in here i see a crashed car at around 12 45 pm rick would lay eyes on the man who was the subject of one of the nation's largest ever manhunts within a split second or so seemingly i came up and christopher dorner came out of the snow bank at me with a rifle pointed at me in 1979 34 years prior to his ruthless spree christopher dorner and his family moved from new york to the middle class neighborhood of norwood in southern california he was raised in a middle-income society not a ghetto his family wasn't tremendously poor despite his tranquil suburban surroundings from an early age dorner would develop the sense that the world was against him i remember him telling me that he was the only african-american child in his class or or in his neighborhood he would regularly get beat up after school there were you know other bullies in the neighborhood who would give him a hard time to hear him tell it it was racially motivated at college friends recall dorner as outgoing and well educated i met chris dorner in college she and i played football together he was clean cut articulate pretty easy to get along with um he was approachable good sense of humor um you know he wasn't somebody who was serious all the time he'd laugh and smile and you know was you know normal i mean he was normal 19 year old 20 year old guy however dorner's habit of painting himself as a victim of prejudice would continue he was very conscious of how people treated him i don't think that he was all that thrilled about our coaches on the football team he commented to me that he thought that particular coach was racist [Music] dona's problems with authority would continue after college having spent time enlisted in the navy reserves his tendency to blame others was again noted when he joined the lapd [Music] in his short time the lapd christopher dorner was the center of a lot of controversy he made several complaints against other officers he saw everything that happened to him that wasn't his liking as a consequence of his race or of some overall scheme against him he was a troubled man christopher dorner's festering resentment would eventually overwhelm him and extreme violence would be the tragic consequence [Music] in 2013 christopher dorner would perpetrate a killing spree that would leave california paralyzed by fear law enforcement throughout southern california is heightened and aware and concerned and scared because any one of them could have been his next target the former lapd man would turn fugitive and orchestrate a campaign of murder that would draw international attention and spark a massive manhunt i think at one point in time the the rewards throughout southern california for his apprehension amounted to over a million and a half dollars the extraordinary spree would begin in puzzling circumstances the third of february 2013 7 30 pm the city of irvine 40 miles southeast of los angeles 27 year old monica quan and her fiance keith lawrence were found slain in the parking lot at their apartment building she was a coach in the school system and a very well respected individual in the community she was engaged to keith lawrence the man who did this was a monster initially the motivation for this predatory crime seemed difficult to determine irvine police department were stunned by the randomness of the selection of victims in this crime they are young people with no enemies no connection to crime no history of violence and so detectives were were at a loss with police on tactical alert across this region tonight men and women in uniform as well as the community are remembering monica quan a heartbreaking day as police search for a killer however in the early hours of the 4th of february christopher dorner would not only claim responsibility for the killings but announce his plans to continue his spree by targeting police officers holed up in an unassuming motel dorner posted a multi-page manifesto online upon discovery of the sprawling document police began their investigation today we have identified christopher jordan dorner as a suspect in this double homicide the manifesto outlined dorner's motives in this rambling manifesto posted on dorner's facebook page he details everything and made clear his grievances with the lapd christopher dorner had a troubled history with los angeles police department on his probationary period his training officer counseled him about his performance soon after that he made allegations of excessive force against her during an arrest those allegations were not supported by witnesses or fact and because of that dorner chargers were soon applied against dorner and he was terminated from the los angeles police department for being on truth [Music] he felt that because of his race and law enforcement that that affected his uh professional career in a detrimental way he was an injustice collector he was a person that believed that that nothing that ever happened to him was as a result of his own doing the worst thing about these setbacks for him were because he was a narcissist it was stripping him of everything that he held true his identity his service record you take that away from a narcissist the outer trappings of success then there's nothing left for him to have vengeance is a very powerful motivation in spree killing we see their victims they see villains and so they want to get even through the barrel of a gun further reading of the sprawling document would uncover dorner's twisted logic behind classifying monica quan as a legitimate target for his vengeance monica quan who's the daughter of randy quan an lapd captain the individual who had represented him not prosecuted him represented him at his administrative hearing during which he was terminated fired from the los angeles police department dorner decided to pick them as his avenue for revenge the circumstances of the young couple's deaths would give investigators a chilling insight into the cold-blooded mind of christopher dorner appears that it was an ambush multiple rounds were fired i doubt that either of them had any time to know what or who was happening they were caught very off guard and basically slaughtered executed victims had no opportunity to escape or respond that it was calculated this was a crime of great brutality [Music] he claimed he was not done and that he was still going to go after other law enforcement officers [Music] the unique threat posed by dorner's military training and knowledge of police tactics had officers on edge when christopher dorner went on his rampage every law enforcement agency around was aware of him we were all on high alert he had you know specialized training with with weapons he's aware of law enforcement's routines as the investigation continued cctv footage emerged of dorner dumping weapons in the aftermath of the quan and lawrence murders staying one step ahead of the police dorner turned the tables on his pursuers and the hunters would now become the hunted the 7th of february 2013 1 45 am riverside city california [Applause] cab driver karam kaiod was working the night shift normal evening was not that busy just just normal i'm at the stop sign like a grey to blue truck this guy he run the red light at the same moment when i was thinking about this i saw the police officer i saw a truck pulling up next to the police there is a car between them [Laughter] in that car was jack chilson a local resident who was also in the area and that particular night when i was going my way home i was at a red light and i looked to my right there was a police officer that pulled up the squad car riverside officers michael crane and andrew takayas were out working a routine late night patrol mike crane was a remarkable police officer he had about 11 years of service his personal life he was the father of two children andy takayas was a new officer to the riverside police department karam jack and officers crane and takayas were about to become embroiled in the burgeoning spree [Music] the officers and i were looking at each other and then i seen something my peripheral vision on my left-hand side and i seen a large black male in a truck with an assault rifle at this driver's window resting on the window [Music] and start shooting [Music] i'm looking to my left watching him shooting across my hood into the driver's window side window of the pistol squad car [Music] opening fire on crane and takayas dorner would not discriminate when it came to dispatching violence [Music] he has safety goggles on and he had a grin on his face it was like he was happy he didn't feel sorry or anything first of all it's not believing what's happening i couldn't believe it the driver slept forward that's all i seen i never seen the passenger after he shot the police officers he just left he didn't peel out he just like nothing ever happened no speeding no nothing like he did you know like he was going home [Music] no motion with the officers helpless their patrol car strafed with bullets taxi driver karam came to their aid my feeling was it's you at that moment you don't have those feeling you just act i left my car and went to them i saw the messenger police officer sitting up and officer turkey the wounded one he barely like can move [Music] and i told him what should i do what should i do so he told me the radio the radio i pull it up and press the button and grab it to his mouth and he start to call multiple times kenneth he cannot move he cannot even grab the radio he was wounded so bad when police support arrived on the scene of the shooting it proved to be too late for michael crane two police officers went to his window and touch his neck i believe and they made their head like this that he's he's dead as the spree now entered its fourth day officer andrew takayas had been left critically wounded following the death of michael crane christopher dorner's victims now numbered three it's very sad actually it's very sad especially have like two kids [Music] and a wife his attack on officer takis and officer crane was cowardice it was a blind side it was suppressed fire they had no idea he was even in the area [Music] to be murdered for what you do for a living is the height of prejudice here's a man who reviled against prejudice in his manifesto yet he wasn't willing to kill somebody just because of what they were wearing that day just because they were a law enforcement officer only hours on from the murder of michael crane christopher dorner's spree was to hit the skids and detectives would soon have him in their sights we had a full perimeter around the cabin constant exchange of gunfire i mean hundreds and hundreds of rounds being shot back and forth he was like a trapped animal at that point he was prepared for it and more than willing to to fight [Music] in 2013 california would be struck by a killing spree that would make waves around the world i think during that week to 10 day period of time i would say thousands of police officers were involved making his violent intentions public via an online manifesto christopher dorner announced plans to target his former employers at the lapd he was going to seek revenge and we seek revenge in a very violent way four days into his spree dorner had claimed the lives of three they made their head like this that he's dead leaving another critically injured his indiscriminate killings initiating a statewide climate of fear there wasn't much rationality that you could attribute to this individual that you could say okay we know who's safe and who's not safe so a very much heightened sense of danger and vulnerability with police paranoia at an all-time high they at last got a break in the case in a remote area on a dirt road his burned-out truck was found when christopher dorner crashed his truck up in the mountain i think the majority of us believed he was still up there there was an initial concern that this was bait and that dorner was somewhere nearby ready to to snipe people were worried nobody knew where he was we were all on edge you know we're all keeping weapons by the door hopefully not that we're going to confront somebody like christopher dorner the discovery was made on the edge of the mountain town of big bear and would mark a turning point in what had now become one of the largest manhunts in californian history during the actual manhunt right after christopher dorner's vehicle was found there were hundreds of officers up there all the police agencies in my county were on tactical alert the sheriff's department the riverside police department the search involved every level of law enforcement in the united states with dorner's reputation for the unpredictable in mind police proceeded with caution as they began their investigation he was well armed he had access to assault weapons and extremely high powered assault weapons at that he had a large quantity of ammunition he was very mobile with the normally tranquil ski resort now overrun with detectives the search for dorner began we're using snow cats and apcs with chains on them to get to those areas deputies say they searched 200 homes in an eight mile wooded area where christopher dorner's burnt out truck was discovered knocking on doors going through fields and forests trying to see if they could locate him or find him you're talking about thousands of cabins in isolated areas and as many as they searched out there he had the advantage no question you could easily find an unoccupied cabin and maybe break in and stay there the challenges of tracking dorner down in such hostile terrain would be considerable just the element of surprise that he actually had the benefit of when you don't know where somebody is hiding it gives them an extreme advantage he didn't know if he was hiding behind a tree with a sniper's rifle they were trudging around trying to locate him and he could be behind any tree or any corner waiting to shoot them and kill them [Music] as the story began to break worldwide observers started to examine what might be driving dorner to commit his crimes you know you have to sit there and and really think hard is this the guy that i knew or was the guy that i knew a facade i mean was he you know pulled one over on me all those years to see somebody go from being a bright capable young man with a bright future to america's most wanted you know mass murder i was flabbergasted i think what mr dorner ultimately realized was that in a sense his world was crumbling around him everything that he had tried to accomplish and set out as goals whether it be in the military or in law enforcement didn't end well for him he was a failure and he couldn't deal with that he couldn't accept that and he had nowhere else to go and ultimately rot retribution in the years that followed his dismissal from the lapd dorner would suffer further personal setbacks resulting in a steady slide into depression being depressed as dorner suggested is not the sole reason why individuals engage in spree killings no doubt he was depressed what dorner had that was different to the millions of other people who become severely depressed is he had narcissistic tendencies he had access to firearms and he also had a willingness to kill to prove his point with his life at its lowest ever ebb dorner began to ready himself for what he called his last resort [Music] after he was dismissed from the police department he was apparently buying and selling guns and suppressors and ammunition and the whole time stewing about what had happened to him following the killings in irvine and riverside dorner had fled to the mountains of southern california search parties continued to scour big bear for any sign of the fugitive killer however their progress was slowed by hostile weather conditions the swat team and more than 120 heavily armed officers have been combing the area for two days the snow slowing but not stopping their search locals and authorities alike feared christopher dorner may have slipped the net other than his burned out vehicle we had no specific information that he was still in the big bear area the longer the time passed more and more people were thinking that he was gone however such feelings would prove unfounded the 12th of february 2013 12 22 pm mountain vista resort big bear 911 received a call from holiday cabin owner karen reynolds now we're on emergency what are you reporting he went into a cabin where a couple were derived i guess after he had broken into that cabin and he held them tied them up and held them captive the victims are managed to free themselves they call the authorities and they report that he has taken their car what's a making model it's a new fundraiser rog those people are very fortunate they are still alone [Music] with fresh information to hand officers jim simons and mike medici now had a hot lead on a trail they feared had gone cold suspect left 15 to 30 ago and took keys to nissan rogue our mission was to find dorner was to find the car he was driving was to try to out think him where he was going next christopher dorner made it very clear that we law enforcement officers were his targets so yeah it obviously heightened our awareness [Music] while officers simons and medici continued to pursue dorner unsuspecting local resident rick helterbreak would be confronted by the most wanted man in america right about in here i see a crashed car and then i see dorner coming out of the snow bank right there right at me i remember him coming at me i remember the vest he had a big ballistics vest on with pockets in it he's got a gun right at my head i could tell it was some kind of assault rifle i go like this put my truck in park he says i don't want to hurt you just get out and start walking i had that sense that i wasn't one of his targets you know he wanted to kill cops and i wasn't a cop i left the truck roughly in this position right here i got up and i started walking up the road you realize you just got confronted by the most wanted man in america and you know he let me go after rick alerted authorities to his encounter with dorner a white dodge pickup truck headed down down glass road the pursuit would hurtle towards its explosive end all available units to glass road and 38. the terrain out there was wide open nothing but trees and snow you talk about rubber necking we had to look in a swivel for him because you didn't know what tree he was behind what set of rocks he might be behind we knew he was he was not going to go easy we knew it was probably going to end up in some type of confrontation involving gunfire san bernardino sheriff's deputies alex collins and jeremiah mckay also joined the chase jeremiah was very familiar uh with the big bear area he had been stationed up there as a deputy with the samuel sheriff's department so he was hot on mr dorner's trail are we sure he's in the vehicle and what tracks are we following vehicle or foot the radio traffic told us to go a direction which was a right turn for us jeremiah went left and we did make that right turn according to the radio we got to the intersection and that's when we started hearing the gunfire as shots began to ring out deputies collins and mckay found themselves in the line of fire [Music] alex collins had taken a shot to the face and another three to his chest arm and leg dorner's crosshairs would then fall on jeremiah mckay we turned around we pulled up and saw jeremiah on the ground another officer down copy another officer down i saw that jeremiah mccabe was down and he wasn't moving it appeared that he was he was dead christopher dorner had claimed another life and had left another officer seriously wounded [Music] staging his last stand dorner barricaded himself into an uninhabited cabin taking aim at anyone in his [Music] dorner started shooting at the the deputies pinned down behind their vehicle automatically so we immediately just started shooting at christopher dorner in the cabin trying to get him to stop firing all you would hear are thuds basically coming over your head there was no question in my mind he was not going to just give up or stop swat is on scene more teams of officers responded constant exchange of gunfire i mean hundreds and hundreds of rounds being shot back and forth deputies are still down in the kill zone [Music] [Applause] he would start shooting at the the deputies pinned behind the car again we can hear the rounds you know hitting their car they are popping off smoke to get the wounded deputies out under the cover of smoke officers collins and mckay were retrieved from the kill zone deputy collins would receive treatment for his injuries as the gun battle raged officers moved in to pin down the man they had been hunting for the san bernardino swat team started making a tactical plan the armored vehicle the armored vehicle at 4 15 pm more than two hours into the cabin siege and nine days since the spree began dorner's last chance of escape was about to go up in smoke [Music] [Music] in 2013 christopher dorner would embark on a killing spree declaring his intent to dispatch vigilante justice against his former employers at the lapd he was a ghost you never knew where he was or firing from the out of control ex-cop would take the lives of four in nine days leaving two other victims critically wounded [Music] sought by law enforcement authorities from across california dorner would stage his last stand in a remote mountain cabin near the tourist town of big bear [Music] there was no question in my mind he was not going to just give up or stop the officer even with the cabin surrounded and the odds stacked against him dorner seemed determined to continue his fight until the last they made announcements to come out and give yourself up numerous times periodically the gunfire from inside the cabin continued at that point it was very obvious he had no intentions of giving up at all [Music] having refused all negotiations for over two hours at 4 15 pm swat teams would execute a plan designed to smoke dorner out deploying potent tear gas canisters known as burners into the cabin control 61 lincoln we're going to be deploying a gas burner ultimately the sheriff's department ended up throwing in a smoke canister you know which it kind of explodes and expels the gas with a flame we have a fire unfortunately that started a fire inside the cabin the whole time we we never got any communication back from christopher dorner in any way no intentions of turning himself in or giving himself up okay guys be ready on the number four side we have fire in the front it might come out the back watching events unfold live on tv dorner's former friend james yusera felt mixed emotions it was bizarre to sit there watching the tv screen the cabin was on fire one side is fully engulfed fire on the floor [Applause] [Music] that was the moment where i kind of knew that okay my friend's gonna die and there's nothing there's nothing anybody can do about it he ain't coming out of that alive shortly after the cabin became engulfed by flames a single sound emerged from the hut it sounded like one shot fired from inside the residence that signaled the end of nine days that would rank as some of the most chaotic in california's recent history copy one shot fired from inside the residence we heard a single gunshot which we believed was christopher dorner committing suicide taking his own life even in death you know he denied reality i think he took the cowardly way out he was man enough to take the lives of several people but he was not man enough to do the time for it he chose the narcissist's way out by ending his own life making the final decision over life and death he chose to control what happened to him not the police for detectives and citizens alike the end of dorner's spree offered a chance to reflect on the events of the previous nine days the sense of relief was nobody else is gonna die today i was very relieved that we had finally put an end to this madness that he had created he's an evil man he came to an evil end and the world's better for it as the smoke from the smoldering cabin began to clear thoughts turned towards what could have been behind dorner's decision to conduct his killing spree [Music] chris was a very capable young man he could have done anything i mean he was smart he was educated so to see it in the way that it did you know we're all left asking questions about what what was the catalyst you know what made him snap dorner was in his 30s at the time this is a time in many men's lives when they feel they should be reaching the pinnacle of success and instead dorner was sliding downhill fast and it's that lack of success that made him believe that there was little hope for the future and he was going to get even through the barrel of a gun taken on this anger and fury and personalized it and at that point he starts to lose sense of reality and focus more on this idea of gaining revenge [Music] it's not something i ever would have expected but you i mean do you can you honestly say that there's anybody you've ever met who you would expect would be a killer someday i mean you just nobody expects that of other people like many other grudge-based spree killers dorner is clearly laying the blame at the feet of his victims he's prepared to murder a number of individuals and see it as being a justifiable crime this forms part of his narcissistic personality he's more keen on getting his version of events across than any remorse he may feel for the victims [Music] without the bravery displayed by officers in the line of duty the ultimate outcome of dorner's spree may have been far greater law enforcement is full of heroes the the men and women of all of the agencies that participated in the manhunt for donor acted as heroes and every one of them faced danger every time they put on this uniform or one like it and went out into public and they know it what is beyond doubt is that the loss of innocent life suffered at dorner's hand over those nine days was senseless you know dorner never killed anybody that knew him or anybody that had any direct connection with all the things that that he thought had been done wrong to him [Music] all of his four victims were completely innocent it's obviously an extreme shock to all the police officers when we do lose a colleague i think it kind of brings us together closer i think it increases our camaraderie because we realize that you know anytime one of us can be shot and killed [Music] i went to deputy mckay's funeral service i ran into an old friend of mine that i hadn't seen for probably 15 or 20 years and i was just talking with him at the funeral and then he told me that his daughter was deputy mckay's wife [Music] and at that moment i started hitting i started crying it's a very tragic situation so [Music]

Channel: True Lives

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Keywords: our life, documentary, world documentary, documentary channel, award winning, life stories, best documentaries, daily life, real world, point of view, story, full documentary, documentaries, real life, killing spree, crime, murder, mass murder, serial killer, crime documentary, true crime, true crime documentary, christian dorner, revenge cop killer, cop killer, la murders, la serial serial killer, los angeles

Id: Deh5HCij55Q

Length: 44min 56sec (2696 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 13 2022