Three homicides and two wounded police officers later, a million-dollar bounty has been placed on Christopher Dorner’s head, the ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer and Navy veteran who is supposedly targeting his former colleagues.
Officers have been searching for Dorner for more than a week. Their search has led them across states, from his Las Vegas home to Big Bear Lake, where he allegedly disposed of his truck. In the truck, authorities said they recovered guns and ammunition, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a Sunday press conference that the LAPD posted the $1 million offer on Saturday.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said the sum of money is the largest local reward ever offered to the department’s knowledge. Private donors and citizens contributed to the reward.
“The reward is for the capture and conviction of Dorner,” Beck said. “It was amazingly easy to put the money together.”
A statewide manhunt was issued Thursday for Dorner, who police suspect of allegedly shooting and killing former Long Beach State basketball player Monica Quan.
Quan and her fiancé, Keith Lawrence, were found dead in an Irvine parking structure on Feb. 3. Police suspect Dorner is connected to both deaths.
“It is important to know that they [Quan and Lawrence] had dreams and aspirations,” Irvine City Mayor Steven Choi said at the Sunday press conference. “Our Irvine Police Department is committed to helping find this suspect every day and every night.”
Dorner is suspected to be connected to three other shootings that took place Thursday, according to Irvine City Police Department Lt. Julia Engen. Two Riverside police officers, one dead and the other wounded, were shot, as well as an LAPD officer who received a graze wound to the head in San Bernardino County, Engen said.
Dorner posted a lengthy manifesto to his Facebook page, detailing his complaints against the LAPD, naming officers he will be targeting and promising “unconventional and asymmetric warfare” against on and off-duty police officers, according to the LA Times.
“Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name,” Dorner said in the manifesto.
Dorner was dismissed from the LAPD in 2009 for supposedly “making false statements about his training officer,” according to the LA Times. Quan’s father, retired LAPD Captain Randy Quan, played a role in the review process that resulted in Dorner’s dismissal.
Dorner’s dismissal is believed to be the motive for his actions against the LAPD.
His manifesto lists threats for more than two dozen people, according to the LA Times.
Multiple forces, including the LAPD and the FBI, are in still pursuit of Dorner as his whereabouts remain unknown.
“This search is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, and I want Chris Dorner to know that,” Villaraigosa said.
Dorner is said to be armed and extremely dangerous. He is described as 6 feet tall and 270 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information regarding Dorner can call the tip line at (213) 486-5230.