• Hunt for fugitive ex-cop: Charred human remains found in burned cabin

    Handout / Reuters

    A frame grab from KNBC4 TV aerial footage shows smoke and fire from a cabin where fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded in Big Bear, California February 12, 2013. Dorner exchanged gunfire on Tuesday with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles after he broke into a home, tied up a couple and stole their pickup truck, authorities said.

    Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News writes

    Investigators discovered charred human remains late Tuesday within a torched California mountain cabin where police sources say ex-cop Christopher Dorner barricaded himself after a deadly shootout with sheriff’s deputies.

    In a statement, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said that identification would be attempted "through forensic means."

    Earlier, San Bernardino Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said authorities believed the suspect was still inside the cabin when the inferno began.

    Gunfire erupted during the hunt for former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner, who was charged with murder on Monday. The unfolding drama brought officers to a cabin in the mountains where the suspect was barricaded inside. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    The hulking former lawman declared war on the LAPD in an online manifesto because he was fired four years ago. Accused of killing three people between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7, he was the target of the biggest manhunt in Los Angeles history.

    A day of dramatic and tragic developments began after police received a report around 12:22 p.m. Tuesday that someone fitting Dorner’s description had stolen a car from a home near the ski resort area of Big Bear, police said.

    The car owner told NBCLosAngeles.com that a man who looked like Dorner came up to him with a rifle and demanded his pickup, and let him take his dogs out of the back before he fled.

    A ground and air search ensued, and authorities located the pickup on Highway 38.

    A spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game said one of its wardens was the “very first person to spot Mr. Dorner … They both got out of the vehicles and exchanged gunfire.”

    Check out more coverage on NBCLosAngeles.com

    The warden’s truck was riddled with bullets but he was not hurt, agency spokesman Andrew Hughan told NBCLosAngeles.com.

    Dorner, who was already wanted for three slayings linked to a revenge-fueled rampage, “fled into the forest and barricaded himself inside a cabin,” the San Bernardino Sheriff’s office said in a statement.  “A short time later there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect.”

    Two deputies were shot and taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where Sheriff John McMahon later confirmed one had died and one was in surgery. Their names were not released.

    No more shots were fired from inside the cabin in Angelus Oaks before police demanded Dorner surrender and began preparing to storm the structure, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

    A source close to the probe told NBCLosAngeles.com that deputies broke the cabin windows, fired tear gas inside and began breaking down walls with an armored personnel carrier.

    The deputies then heard a single gunshot, and soon after flames and smoke could be seen, the source said.

    Shortly before 7 p.m. local time, Villaraigosa told Telemundo "it's over," but declined to elaborate.

    Hundreds of investigators had spent a week searching for Dorner, who is accused of killing a retired captain’s daughter and her fiancé on Feb. 3 and a police officer on Feb. 7.

    His burned-out truck, a Nissan Titan, was found in Big Bear last week and scores of officers have been combing the mountain, going door-to-door to see if they could find signs of forced entry.

    At an afternoon press conference, LAPD commander Smith had a message for Dorner: “Enough is enough. It’s time to turn yourself in.”

    “Everyone is very hopeful that this thing ends without any further bloodshed,” Smith said. “The best thing for him now would be to surrender … and he can face the criminal justice system.”

    Dorner, an ex-cop and Navy reservist detailed his plans and hit list in an online manifesto — a 11,000-word declaration of war against the LAPD in which he makes it clear he would not be taken alive.

    “Self Preservation is no longer important to me,” he wrote. “I do not fear death as I died long ago on 1/2/09.”


    That’s the date that Dorner got his walking papers from the LAPD after being fired for making a false statement about an officer he accused of brutalizing a suspect.

    Police say Dorner exacted revenge on the lawyer who represented him at the internal review, retired captain Randy Quan, by gunning down his daughter, Monica Quan, 28, and her boyfriend, Keith Lawrence, 27, in their car as they returned home to Irvine, Calif., after the Super Bowl.

    Four days later, authorities said, Dorner ambushed police officers who were guarding other potential targets in Riverside and Corona, Calif., killing one of them.

    LAPD officials said earlier Tuesday they were sifting through 1,000 clues and, including a video that may show the suspect stocking up on scuba gear before the killing spree.

    Police confirmed they were even looking into the possibility Dorner had fled to Mexico — the destination he mentioned when he tried to steal a boat in San Diego last Wednesday.

    Among the newest leads, a video that was posted on TMZ that appears to show Dorner purchasing scuba equipment at Sport Chalet in Torrance, Calif., on Feb. 1. Neiman said police had not nailed down if it was Dorner and could not say why he would be buying underwater gear.

    A criminal complaint filed in federal court last week also revealed that investigators have been tracking an associate of Dorner — someone with the initials J.Y. — whose family has property not far from where Dorner's vehicle was abandoned and torched.

    “We will leave no stone unturned to find out if someone was assisting this man in his terrible crimes and eluding capture,” Smith said.

    This story was originally published on Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:37 PM EST

  • For Aurora shooting victim, a dream to help kids comes true

    Jessica Ghawi had a dream: To collect and donate sports equipment to needy kids. She was killed in the Aurora shootings in July but her family is realizing her vision. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

    Sarah Ford, NBC News writes

    When the Colorado fires broke out this summer, Jessica Ghawi told her mother that she wanted to donate sports gear to the children who lost their homes in the fires. 

    But before she could realize her dream, Ghawi was among 12 killed on July 20 at a move theater in Auora, Colo.

    Now, two months after her death, her family has connected with A Precious Child, a Colorado non-profit. Among their services for children is give SPORTS, which donates new and slightly used sports equipment to families. A perfect match for Jessica’s vision.

    On a recent clear and sunny morning in Denver, volunteers gathered around a donated 18 wheeler in the Pepsi Center parking lot and held a sports gear drive.

    People pulled up and donated sports equipment and money for a scholarship to pay for registration and tournament fees, equipment and other sports-related expenses.

    For the Ghawi family, it was an emotional and successful day. They donated some of their daughter’s sports equipment. The Sullivan family also donated – their son, Alex, had turned 27 on the day he was killed at the theater.

    By the end of the day, the nonprofit had collected 25,000 new and gently used sports equipment, $11,000 in cash and $30,000 in scholarship money to be later distributed around Colorado.

    Text SPORTS to 50555 to donate $10 to the Jessica Redfield Ghawi giveSPORTS Scholarship Fund.

     

  • Officials: US soldier in Afghanistan shooting spree said 'I did it'

    Villagers who witnessed the methodical killing are asking for an execution and the U.S. is reportedly considering charges that would carry the death penalty for the soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent writes

    Defense officials have told NBC News that the Army staff sergeant who allegedly shot and killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, admitted his actions to fellow soldiers just before he was taken into custody.

    "I did it," he is said to have told them.

    According to the officials, a search party that included helicopters was formed after an Afghan soldier reported the American had left their small remote outpost in the early morning hours. In the meantime, the base received word that a number of civilians had been killed in a shooting spree at a nearby village.

    Overhead surveillance first spotted the soldier on his stomach in a field, either attempting to hide or crawl toward the base.  He eventually stood up and walked a short distance to the base where he was confronted and asked about the shootings at the village.  The officials say the staff sergeant replied "I did it."  At that point he was disarmed and taken into custody.  He then asked for a lawyer and has refused to talk ever since.

     

    The officials also said they’ve received reports that the soldier was having marital problems and had recently received a troubling letter or email from his wife. According to one official, after four combat deployments it’s not unusual there would be stress on the family.

    Defense officials also told NBC News that investigators have reason to believe that alcohol "may" have been a contributing factor in the shooting spree.

    The investigation found bottles of alcohol on the small remote base where the staff sergeant was deployed.  The officials emphasize "may" because they say that nowhere in the reporting from the field is there any indication the staff sergeant was inebriated.

    The soldier, reportedly married with two children, enlisted in the Army soon after the terror attacks of Sept. 11 and did three combat tours in Iraq before arriving in Kandahar, near where the shootings took place, in December 2011.

    US soldier accused in Afghan massacre had brain injury history

    Reports that the soldier had received post-traumatic stress disorder examinations are not unusual, since every soldier coming out of combat is routinely screened for PTSD.

    The soldier suffered some minor traumatic brain injury in a rollover in Iraq in 2010, but that part of his medical history does not appear at this point to be a factor, according to the officials. They also said the man has a clean medical and behavior record.

    Obama: Killing Afghans as serious as killing Americans

    Col. Gary Kolb, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition in Kabul, told The Associated Press a 48-hour probable cause assessment has been completed and that the service member continues to be confined.

    Additionally, the officials told NBC News that the the military is considering capital murder charges against the soldier, meaning he could face the death penalty if convicted. They said the military also intends to conduct his court martial hearing in Afghanistan. Not only would it send the right signal to the Afghan people, officials said, but trying him in the United States or another country in the region would also present a logistics nightmare given the number of witnesses that would be expected to testify.

    Military investigators in Afghanistan hope to file charges and release the identity of the soldier by the end of the week, but warn it could take another two weeks.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    On Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where the soldier suspected of shooting 16 Afghan civilians came from, the military had previously launched an investigation into the military installation's health care system after nearly 300 soldiers had their PTSD diagnoses reversed. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

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