LAPD Gets 700 Tips in Manhunt; Fugitive Cop Charged

Dorner could face death penalty in officer's death
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 11, 2013 7:00 PM CST
LAPD Gets 700 Tips in Manhunt; Fugitive Cop Charged
Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer.   (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)

Murder charges were filed against fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner today that could make him eligible for the death penalty, the LA Times reports. The Riverside County DA charged Dorner with murder in the killing of Riverside officer Michael Crain, and tacked on three counts of attempted murder for allegedly wounding Crain's partner with a bullet to the head and shooting at two LAPD officers. In other developments:

  • The LAPD has received more than 700 tips in its manhunt, which carries a $1 million reward. Police have warned LA residents that response time will be slower in answering non-emergency calls, and routine calls could be ignored altogether if the department goes on tactical alert, the LA Daily News reports.
  • "Now it's like the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire," a law enforcement source tells the AP. "Instead of one contestant, we've got 100,000, and there's only one question you have to answer. All they have to answer is where he's at, and we can take it from there."
  • The manhunt has created traffic jams at California border crossings into Mexico. Baja California state police officers are carrying photos of Dorner and consider him armed and dangerous.
  • Police evacuated and searched a home improvement store in the San Fernando Valley last night but didn't find Dorner, ABC News reports. And cops swarmed an apartment in San Bernardino this morning but had no luck, the Press-Enterprise reports.
  • Police have scaled back the search in Big Bear, but it's still a "critical piece of the investigation," says a lieutenant, the LA Times reports. Police will continue scouring the mountain "until we've looked in every nook and cranny."
  • Memes, decals, bumper stickers, and T-shirts featuring Dorner are becoming popular, the Huffington Post reports. One reads, "Don't shoot! I'm not Dorner!" Another shows LA Police Chief Charlie Beck over the words, "Turn yourself in or we will continue killing civilians."
(More Christopher Dorner stories.)

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