A burned cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains was the focus of an intense manhunt for fugitive murder suspect Chris Dorner Tuesday night. It was earlier announced that a body had been recovered from the cabin. In an 8 p.m. LAPD news conference, Commander Andy Smith said that the cabin continued to smolder and was too hot to enter. Smith said a body had not been recovered.
“Any reports of a body being found are not true,” Smith said. “Any reports of that body being identified as Christopher Dorner are not true.”
Authorities say the situation began at about 12:20 p.m. when deputies responded to the 1200 block of Club View Drive for a report of a stolen vehicle by a man matching Dorner’s description. Deputies immediately began a search of the area.
The vehicle was located at Highway 38 and Glass Road a short time later. A suspect fled into the forest on foot and barricaded himself inside a cabin. There was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect, leaving two San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies wounded. One deputy died of his injuries at the hospital. The second deputy was in surgery and was expected to survive, an official said.
Dorner was believed to have then holed up in a different cabin, where a fire later erupted, though it was unclear how the blaze began. Once the fire started, a single gunshot was heard from inside the cabin, followed by more sounds of gunfire, which authorities said could have been ammunition exploding.