10.34pm GMT

The hunt for Christopher Dorner, a former police officer accused of two murders in California, appears to have narrowed with reports that the fugitive former police officer has been involved in a shootout with law enforcement officers on Tuesday afternoon.

Two deputies with the San Bernardino sheriff's department were shot and wounded in Big Bear, north-east of Los Angeles.

Local news reports said Dorner had broken into a home, tied up two people and stolen a pickup truck. Dorner was then confronted on a highway by fish and game wardens before fleeing on foot. He is now holed up in a cabin, according to the San Bernadino's sheriff's office.

News outlets, including CBS Los Angeles, aired the sounds of gunfire and shouting in live broadcasts from the Big Bear area.

Dorner is accused of targeting law enforcement officers and their families in three revenge-driven killings.

He had posted a lengthy online "manifesto" explaining agrudge against the LAPD, which fired him in 2008. It named dozens of people; since then, many officers have been given 24-hour protection.

On February 3 he is alleged to have shot dead Monica Quan, 28, the daughter of a retired police captain, and her fiancé Keith Lawrence, 27.

Four days later he allegedly ambushed two other officers at a traffic light, killing one, Michael Crain, 34, a veteran, and wounding the other, a trainee.

The net now appears to be closing in on Dorner. We will have live updates as the story develops.