Excerpt: "A six-day hunt for a former policeman suspected of a killing spree in California ended on Wednesday when a cabin in the mountains above LA went up in flames."
In this image taken from video provided by KABC-TV, the cabin where ex-police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded inside is in flames. (photo: KABC-TV/AP)
Audio Suggests Police Started Fire That Killed Dorner
13 February 10
�
six-day hunt for a former policeman suspected of a killing spree in California ended on Wednesday when a cabin in the mountains above LA went up in flames.
A body suspected to be that of Christopher Dorner was found in the ruins of the building. Dorner is suspected to have killed four people in a vendetta against LA police officers and their families; the fourth was an officer from San Bernardino County sheriff's department killed in a shootout at the cabin on Tuesday night.
Dorner had threatened to bring "warfare" to the LAPD, having claimed he had been the subject of racism when he was sacked from his job as a policeman there. Rory Carroll has the full story.
It is not yet clear how the fire at the cabin was started, but some evidence seems to suggest it may have been as a consequence of the tear gas fired by police.
A recording purporting to be of the conversation on police scanners as officers surrounded the cabin where Dorner was hiding seems to show police discussing "going forward with the plan, with, er, with the burn" or "burner".
The term "burner" had led to speculation that the fire had been started deliberately, but burner is thought to be police slang for tear gas, and may refer to "BurnSafe" containers for CS gas canisters, made by the Covina-Thomas Company in Covina, California. On its website the company lists among its recent customers the LAPD, although not the San Bernardo County sheriff's office, which led the raid.
Following the fire that killed 76 Branch Davidian cult members during the Waco siege in Texas there was a long period of controversy over whether the blaze had been started by military tear gas cartridges.
The Guardian cannot confirm that the audio track is a genuine recording of the police scanner.
�
�
At around the 1min mark in the recording, a male voice says:
All right, Steve, we're gonna go, er, we're gonna go forward with the plan, with, er, with the burn [or burner]. We want it, er, like we talked about.
He then adds shortly afterwards:
Seven burners deployed and we have a fire.
A female voice responds:
Copy. Seven burners deployed and we have a fire.
At around 2min 20sec, a male voice says:
Guys, be ready on the No 4 side. We have fire in the front. He might come out the back.
At around 2min 50sec, a male voice requests a fire engine.
There is then a report of a shot fired from within the residence, followed by a sharp noise of some kind.
This video, which purports to be a recording of KCAL TV coverage of the raid on the cabin, seems to include the sound of police shouting: "We're going to burn him out," and "Burn this motherfucker!"
�
�
Journalist Max Blumenthal claims to have been listening to the police scanners through an iPhone app at the time and has put together a timeline of events. The key tweets match the YouTube video purporting to be the police scanner:
Hard to decipher on San Bernadino Sheriff scanner now: "We're gonna go ahead w/the plan w/the burner... Like we talked about."
- Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 12, 2013
BREAKING: PD scanners right now: "The burner's deployed and we have a fire." Sheriffs have set #Dorner cabin on fire or so it seems.
- Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 13, 2013
SB County System 6,7,8 scanner: "We have fire in the front and it may come out the back" #Dorner
- Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 13, 2013
According to the Associated Press, writing from Big Bear Lake, California, where the incident took place, the police attacked the cabin like so:
A SWAT team surrounded the cabin and used an armoured vehicle to break out the cabin windows, said a law enforcement official who requested anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The officers then pumped a gas into the cabin and blasted a message over a loudspeaker: "Surrender or come out."
The armoured vehicle then tore down each of the cabin's four walls.
A single shot was heard inside before the cabin was engulfed in flames, the law enforcement official told the Associated Press.
The LA Times describes it like this:
Just before 5pm, authorities smashed the cabin's windows, pumped in tear gas and called for the suspect to surrender. They got no response. Then, using a demolition vehicle, they tore down the cabin's walls one by one. When they reached the last wall, they heard a gunshot. Then the cabin burst into flames.
A spokesman for the San Bernardino County sheriff's office refused to answer any media questions about the fire or Dorner's death until the press conference the police force is holding on Wednesday at 4pm LA time (midnight GMT).
Note: This article was redrafted at 5.30pm GMT on 13 February 2013 due to new information about the possible meaning of the word "burner" coming to light.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN
Onward 99%. It will be tough but we must sustain.
Well said, Eronat, and these are not even the "agent provocateurs" yet. These are the well-known (Since Seattle) Anarchists who show up perpetrating violence and destruction at protests where the Anarchists themselves can't even describe what is being protested. They just love to "sock it to the system". *Any* excuse to violence and vandalism is better than *no* excuse to violence and vandalism for these louts.
They always wear black clothing, black masks, and carry black flags. What's with Bubb Rubb quoted in the article as saying: "these people in black clothes with black flags .... they bamboozled us. They wanted violence."
They are ANARCHISTS, "Bubb", they *always* "want violence". If Occupy Oakland has a free library like OWS, better study up a little on the recent history of West Coast activism. The better to avoid being "bamboozled" over lack of easily accessed information. Knowledge is Power.
Or are you an out and out Fascist? You sure sound like it.
It's people like you who are finks and blacklegs to the corporate state and who are holding America back from entering the 21st century -42nd in the world in quality of life indicators as of recent polls and from being a force for good in the world by caring for it's own citizens and those in need of help abroad instead of being an over-armed thug.
Have YOU ever put your body on the line (other than possibly time a lock-step "yassuh" military cipher) for something you believe in passionately or are you happy with the "kick me again your lordship" status-quo?
The police should be out there with them and the real criminals are waltzing around in suits, albeit starting to shit in their Armanis!
"Oh villainous viper, damned beyond redemption, terrible Hell be on your spotted soul for this"!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
Clinton opened the back door, George W. busted down the front door and the barn door, letting go the herd. Obama is allowing for the same thing. But in truth this all began during the time of Nixon/Reagan. Nothing is as simple as democrat vs. republican. Never forget the corporations that exited the country, along with factories and money.
It is very difficult to rid a protest of anarchists, thugs, plants, or any other critter attempting to denigrate dignified demonstrations. Everyone involved will have to police their own neighborhood demonstrations and call out the thugs. It is NOT easy.
Guess your corporate handlers didn't "spring" for a calculator or a calender, huh. BTW, your still in the gulag, and that fact is never gonna change. No matter how hard you "suck". What is "in tact" anyway?
PLEASE Mr. Eagle, I don't mean to come off as being mean-spirited, but for your sake and for the sake of the rest of us, get some professional councelling! Seek real life education! Then you too shall see the true light of what this country (and parts of the rest of this planet) has been suffering. ...And for God's sakes, PLEASE stop watching Fox News!
Then you can with enlightenment and dignity armed with the true knowledge, join our cause for the sake of the country and the world at large! Thanks!
Er...then it was some rogue billionaires in the 1% doing it? Of course it was the 99% - maybe only 1% of the 99% but it certainly helps more to tell the truth.
Having pointed that out- most protesters have been extremely restrained and should stay that way. It's the one thing the authorities don't understand. They understand and react to violence but are dumbfounded when confronted with peaceful obstinacy. The people shall overcome!
If you haven't caught on yet, you aren't paying attention and need to wake up!
Obama is behind the police repression. Karl Rove has little to no sway over mayors. Furthermore, a friend has started looking into which mayors belong to which party. So far, all Democrats except for one. But not finsihed yet.
Re this excerpt from the article: ". . . witnessed two demonstrators hurl items in retaliation.
I say good for them. The thugs who are perpetrating violence deserve whatever happens to them.
As for the people doing damage - has it occurred to anyone that these could be gov't installed perpetrators so that the police violence can be justified by our fascist leaders?
So what do YOU want? Again, you are the one with the twisted perspective and yet I've never hear a productive suggestion from y'r keyboard.
I'm a small business owner feeling the oppression of corporate monopoly and applaud every day these people make themselves felt.
Again, put up or shut up, mouthpiece and apologist for the power-elite with their freedom-and-cre ativity-killing jackboots!
Stop the flood of Chinese cheap bleep that displaces our workers? Or what?
Extraordinary show of force. Okay, the point has been made. Now what?
Until our demands are met? What demands? Who can actually meet them?
Arab Spring wanted rid of dictators--Assa d, Ghadafi, Mubarek, et al. must step down. The Euro protests raged at austerity that hit their 99% disproportionat ely.
Protests had an end point. I'm not seeing one here or any connection either.
Provocateurs and plants as well as undisciplined fools will drive away responsible protesters.
The big corporations ARE the bad guys and most bad in that they underwrite the politicians and determine policy by the overwhelming force of wealth and subsequent infiltration of the federal bureaucracy. Their agents are the regulators.
Big Corporations are no friends of small business.
While character flaws were surely involved in the flameout of our economy, much of the dysfunctional system is so set in place that often even smart, well intentioned people can't do their jobs.
Bashing government employees is not a way to foster pride in one's job and devotion to the public good. The government-is -bad mantra is a useless piece of ideological claptrap deflecting from the size of reform needed.
When will you honestly recognize, in your somewhat blinkered determination to blame the Government for everything and rationalize for big corporations, that they are one and the same thing, or a plutocracy?
And if you don't think that this is becoming a police state, you must live a very sheltered life. The Texas police now has drones; just a matter of time before they use them to stifle dissent on behalf of the Owner-Governmen t.
Try dissenting! Try protesting! Try getting to know some of those you call criminals -but then that's more challenging Innit?.
I was a 60's and 70's activist, and have faced the same clubs and agents provocateurs (and yes, there are loose-cannon scum, many being bored upper-middle brats who get their rocks off doing damage attributed to true and peaceful resisters then melting away). But now the cops have phasers, and all sorts of other crippling and sometimes lethal deterrents; just ask young Scott Olsen.
If you've never been out there, don't condemn what you don't understand and remember, dissent is truly democratic!
Read "The Nightmare Years" W.L. Shirer.