Officials: Dorner died of single gunshot to head

By Michael Winter, USA TODAY | USATODAY

Fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner died from an apparently self-inflicted bullet wound to the head Tuesday as California authorities pumped fiery tear gas into the mountain cabin where he made a last stand after a furious gunfight, the San Bernardino County sheriff said Friday.

Sheriff John McMahon did not reveal the caliber of the weapon used.

Deputies said they heard a final gunshot from the cabin near Big Bear Lake as it began burning after SWAT unit shot incendiary gas canisters called "burners," which are known to start fires. Dorner's charred remains were positively identified Thursday.

McMahon reiterated his statement Wednesday that his deputies did not intentionally burn down the 1920s-era cabin in Seven Oaks.

One San Bernardino sheriff's deputy died and another was wounded in Tuesday's final shootout with the 33-year-old Dorner, who publicized his plan to seek violent revenge for being dismissed from the LAPD in 2009 after accusing another officer of brutalizing a civilian.

At a news conference Friday afternoon, McMahon displayed a .308-caliber, bolt-action rifle equipped with a sniper scope and emblazoned with the word "vengeance" that he said was recovered from Dorner's vehicle. He also showed models of assault rifles, hand guns, magazines, smoke canisters and tactical body armor that he said were similar to those recovered from some of the crime scenes and vehicles linked to Dorner.

Ex-cop Dorner died from gunshot to head Authorities say fugitive former cop Christopher Dorner died of a single gunshot wound to the head as authorities were pumping tear gas into a mountain cabin during a deadly gun battle with sheriff's deputies. (Feb. 15)

Los Angeles TV station KCAL reported that a man walking in the Angelus Oaks area Friday morning found a weapon in the snow that Dorner may have used.

The unidentified man said he found a P-22 long barrel pistol with a suppressor. He alerted sheriff's deputies, who retrieved the gun.

Also Friday, authorities revealed that Dorner was holed up in a condo across the street from their command post during a six-day manhunt. He had apparently entered through an unlocked door and did not answer when deputies knocked.

Wednesday, the deputy in charge of the search said his men did not believe that Dorner was in the condo, which had not been rented out since Feb. 6, the day before Dorner's burned-out pickup was found in the area.

Dorner is suspected of also killing a Riverside police officer and wounding his partner as they were stopped at a light in Corona, Calif. He also is believed to have wounded two Los Angeles police officers and murdered a couple in Irvine in their parked car Feb. 3. She was the daughter of a former LAPD captain who had represented Dorner at his dismissal hearing.