This guy seems like a complete nutjob. The LAPD seems quite trigger happy though.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/us/former-los-angeles-police-officer-sought-in-shootings.html
QuoteHuge Search for Ex-Officer in 3 California Killings
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and IAN LOVETT
Published: February 7, 2013 244 Comments
LOS ANGELES — A former Navy reservist who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2008 has gone on a murderous rampage aimed at police officers and their families, law enforcement officials said Thursday, killing at least three people — including an 11-year veteran of the Riverside Police Department — and setting off a huge manhunt across Southern California.
The police were on high alert in a dragnet that appeared to rattle even a part of the country familiar with sweeping police hunts. Protection teams were dispatched overnight to guard uniformed officers and their families, scores of officers set up lines of defense outside the fortress that is the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, and motorcycle officers were ordered to retreat to the safety of patrol cars.
In Torrance, two women delivering newspapers were shot and wounded by police officers who mistook the Honda pickup they were driving for the one identified as belonging to the gunman, a gray Nissan. About 12 hours later in San Diego, squads of police cars, in a blaze of red lights and screeching tires, converged on a motel where the suspect was mistakenly thought to be hiding after his wallet was found on a sidewalk.
As night fell, the gray Nissan was found, destroyed by flames, at the side of a dirt road in a snowy, wooded area near Big Bear, a ski resort about 100 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The resort and local schools were closed as soon as the vehicle was discovered.
The suspect was identified as Christopher J. Dorner, 33, who worked for the Police Department from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Dorner posted a rambling and threatening note on his Facebook page, which police referred to as "his manifesto," complaining of severe depression and pledging to kill officers to avenge his dismissal for filing a false report accusing a colleague of abuse.
In the note, Mr. Dorner said he had struggled to clear his name in court before resorting to violence.
The 6,000-word manifesto was bristling with anger and explicit threats, naming two dozen police officers he intended to kill. Mr. Dorner laid out grievances against a police department that he said remained riddled with racism and corruption, a reference to a chapter of the department's history that, in the view of many people, was swept aside long ago.
The authorities responded by assigning special security details to protect the people named in the manifesto, and asked the news media not to publish their names.
"I have exhausted all available means at obtaining my name back," he wrote. "I have attempted all legal court efforts within appeals at the Superior Courts and California Appellate courts. This is my last resort. The LAPD has suppressed the truth and it has now lead to deadly consequences."
"I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty," he wrote.
The police said that Mr. Dorner was traveling with multiple weapons, including an assault weapon. On his Facebook page, Mr. Dorner posted a certificate from the Department of the Navy attesting that he had completed a course of training to become an antiterrorism officer at the Center for Security Forces.
"Dorner is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous," said Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department. "He knows what he's doing; we trained him. He was also a member of the armed forces. It is extremely worrisome and scary, especially to the police officers involved."
Mr. Dorner bragged about his lethal skills. "You are aware that I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualification in every unit I have been on," he wrote.
The rampage began with a double homicide in Orange County on Sunday. One of the victims, Monica Quan, 28, was the daughter of a former Los Angeles police captain who had defended Mr. Dorner in his disciplinary proceedings.
On Wednesday, Chief Beck said, Mr. Dorner tried to hijack a boat in San Diego. Early Thursday morning, police officers assigned to protect an officer named by Mr. Dorner were alerted by a civilian who spotted a man resembling the suspect. As they followed him, Mr. Dorner opened fire as they approached him — grazing one in the head — before he fled, Chief Beck said.
Less than an hour later, the suspect approached two Riverside police officers parked at a traffic light in a patrol car and opened fire, killing one and seriously wounding the second.
"The Riverside officers were cowardly ambushed," Chief Beck said. "They had no opportunity to fight back, no pre-warning."
At Big Bear, police officials said they were prepared to search through the night, weather permitting: a winter snowstorm was approaching. Sheriff John McMahon of San Bernardino County said that footprints had been found in the show leading from the abandoned vehicle; he would not say where they led.
Sheriff McMahon said that about 125 law enforcement officers were going door-to-door in the area searching for the suspect, looking for signs of forced entry and making certain that residents there were safe.
The authorities were concerned that the gunman would expand his choice of targets. "This is a vendetta against all Southern California law enforcement, and it should be seen as such," Chief Beck said
More than a dozen law enforcement agencies across Southern California — from Riverside, east of Los Angeles, down to San Diego — were engaged in the search. Police vehicles crowded the freeways, where electronic signs urged drivers to look out for the suspect's vehicle.
F.B.I. agents staked out a home in Orange County where neighbors said Mr. Dornan's mother lived. Neighbors said that they had seen Mr. Dornan on and off after he returned from a two-year deployment in the Middle East in 2006. They all said he was a cordial and approachable neighbor.
"I don't expect to see him anymore, because I know that this is a hot area for him," said Ike Gonzalez, who has lived there since 1973.
Mr. Dornan was dismissed after being charged with making false statements about his training officer, who he alleged had kicked a suspect. A review board ultimately found Mr. Dornan guilty. Mr. Dornan sued the department, but both the trial court and an appellate court upheld his termination.
In his online manifesto, Mr. Dornan railed against the officers involved in his hearing. "You destroyed my life and name because of your actions," he wrote. "Time is up."
"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I'm terminating yours," he wrote. "Look your wives/husbands and surviving children directly in the face and tell them the truth as to why your children are dead."
Another two officers have been injured in a gunfight with the suspect.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/12/16938301-two-officers-injured-as-manhunt-for-ex-lapd-officer-focuses-on-big-bear?lite
If ever there was a place and job in which you'd be trigger-happy, it's LAPD. Jesus.
Quote from: fahdiz on February 12, 2013, 05:34:21 PM
If ever there was a place and job in which you'd be trigger-happy, it's LAPD. Jesus.
I talked to them back in 1996; they were more interested in whether I spoke Spanish or not.
Quote from: fahdiz on February 12, 2013, 05:34:21 PM
If ever there was a place and job in which you'd be trigger-happy, it's LAPD. Jesus.
Yeah the two parts of Tim's OP fit like glove and hand. :D
Come on, they shot two old ladies delivering newspapers because they drove the same car as the suspect.
Gee, the LAPD as a dysfunctional police force? Welcome to 1972, Timmay.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 12, 2013, 06:03:56 PM
Gee, the LAPD as a dysfunctional police force? Welcome to 1972, Timmay.
Yeah it's funny in a way that Hal Rouch* had their modus operandi nailed in 1913, but those guys didn't have glocks.
*Yes I know it's probably not Hal Rouch's output, but I don't know who did them and anyway it sounds better this way.
edit:
Damn I'm ignorant/forgetful, of course it was Mack Sennett. :rolleyes:
At least this is compelling TV.
GO COPS. SMEAR THE DARKIE.
Damn, gotta go home to watch this. Please tell me they didn't kill him yet.
Quote from: DGuller on February 12, 2013, 06:44:20 PM
Damn, gotta go home to watch this. Please tell me they didn't kill him yet.
Barricaded in a cabin. There might be hostages.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 12, 2013, 06:41:34 PM
GO COPS. SMEAR THE DARKIE.
No way he's coming out of this alive. Not that he wants to.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 12, 2013, 06:52:26 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 12, 2013, 06:41:34 PM
GO COPS. SMEAR THE DARKIE.
No way he's coming out of this alive. Not that he wants to.
I don't know. I'm sure LAPD is going to open up at him with everything they've got, but so far in this case they don't exactly have the best track record of hitting anything with a hail of bullets.
I want them to Janet Reno the cabin. KILL KILL
Not nearly as exciting as watching a good car chase.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 12, 2013, 06:55:14 PM
I want them to Janet Reno the cabin. KILL KILL
Dude, this is San Bernadino SD we're talking about, not LAPD or LASD.
The only time they use their tactical teams for breaches is when the neighbors complain about the smell next door since they haven't seen Miss Dotty "for a while".
The bud light truck is stopped. It's the rubber duck!
Pizza: ordered.
Apparently the LA Times found the owner of the cabin he's holed up in, and there's no power, telephone or internet for this cabin.
I wonder if he's smart enough not to accept a toss phone.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 12, 2013, 07:06:00 PM
Apparently the LA Times found the owner of the cabin he's holed up in, and there's no power, telephone or internet for this cabin.
I wonder if he's smart enough not to accept a toss phone.
What would be wrong with accepting it? Would police slip in that special Israeli phone that gives you more ringing in the ears than you would expect from a phone?
Quote from: DGuller on February 12, 2013, 07:08:53 PM
Would police slip in that special Israeli phone that gives you more ringing in the ears than you would expect from a phone?
Yes.
One of the cops he shot today died, that makes what 3 dead cops?
he has to have hostages, I can't see why else that building is still standing.
It's on. Tear gas fired.
I've got a boner right now.
Damn it, I'm missing it.
It isn't being shown live.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 12, 2013, 07:18:24 PM
It's on. Tear gas fired.
That might've been earlier; apparently he had tossed some flashbangs or other device earlier when he was chased back into the cabin, and it was still smoking outside when the news chopper showed up.
I wonder if Tosh will do a spoof episode of this for
Brickleberry.
That reminds me that tosh.0 is on tonight. I need some puke on my TV tonight.
CNN sez cabin may be in flames.
MY BONER HAS REACHED CRITICAL LEVELS
My money is on a very dead negro.
I'm late to the party. Stupid bathtime. Anyway, who do they think started the fire?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 12, 2013, 07:25:24 PM
My money is on a very dead negro.
It will only embolden the asshats who support him, methinks.
Quote from: derspiess on February 12, 2013, 07:26:13 PM
I'm late to the party. Stupid bathtime. Anyway, who do they think started the fire?
Negro fried chicken
Quote from: derspiess on February 12, 2013, 07:26:53 PM
It will only embolden the asshats who support him, methinks.
He has supporters? :huh:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 12, 2013, 07:34:11 PM
Quote from: derspiess on February 12, 2013, 07:26:53 PM
It will only embolden the asshats who support him, methinks.
He has supporters? :huh:
And if he does, who cares about them? They are obviously batshit.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 12, 2013, 07:34:11 PM
Quote from: derspiess on February 12, 2013, 07:26:53 PM
It will only embolden the asshats who support him, methinks.
He has supporters? :huh:
Something like a cult following. Pretty bizarre.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/christopher-dorner-fans-facebook-twitter_n_2647754.html
Sounds like Dorner went out the James Doakes way.
Quote from: DGuller on February 12, 2013, 07:52:27 PM
Sounds like Dorner went out the James Doakes way.
Yup. Not much left of that cabin now.
I guess Obama just breathed a sigh of relief. California cops too, probably.
After watching that press conference with the SB county rep...journalists asking stupid questions should be thrown into burning cabins.
Quote from: Tonitrus on February 12, 2013, 08:02:51 PM
After watching that press conference with the SB county rep...journalists asking stupid questions should be thrown into burning cabins.
I'm surprised the Limey wasn't more of an idiot. They tend to be stupider.
Quote from: DGuller on February 12, 2013, 07:52:27 PM
Sounds like Dorner went out the James Doakes way.
http://youtu.be/NdA2NEWd67c
Quote from: Tonitrus on February 12, 2013, 08:02:51 PM
After watching that press conference with the SB county rep...journalists asking stupid questions should be thrown into burning cabins.
No shit. I had to change the channel when they started going on about how the criminal might steal a cop car and escape. Journalists are just as bad as lawyers. Sure, they lack the base cunning of a lawyer, but they're far, far more stupid.
Hopefully he died on fire rather than quickly from a shot to the head.
Quote from: derspiess on February 12, 2013, 07:39:16 PMSomething like a cult following. Pretty bizarre.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/christopher-dorner-fans-facebook-twitter_n_2647754.html
while i'm sure there are those who actually believe this is a tale of some sort of valiant figure enacting justice against a corrupt system, i've a bit of a sick affection for the guy. here's some pissed off ex-cop who who thinks he's on a mission, and clearly in the wrong, murdering innocents and costing the state millions, but the whole story seems like a rejected rambo script. i've jokingly referred to him as a hero of the people to friends. now the LAPD is saying no body has been found in the cabin they burned, and the story just gets more fascinating - maybe he died there but they haven't yet found the corpse, or maybe he escaped, who knows! i think many on the internet are interested in a similar sense, rooting for the bad guy while knowing he's clearly in the wrong.
i mean, just look at this. how awesome
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6169/dorner.jpg
:P
The LA Times had a bit about the story leading up to the chase, including Dorner's conduct during training and while on the force:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/07/local/la-me-dorner-profile-20130207
QuotePolice say ex-cop was bent on exacting revenge
On the day Christopher Dorner was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department, officials took the unusual step of summoning armed guards to stand watch at his disciplinary hearing downtown.
Those present were nervous that Dorner might do something rash when he learned that he was being stripped of his badge. He was a hulking, muscled man and his body language left no doubt about the anger seething out of him.
"It was clear... that he was wound way too tight," said a police official who attended Dorner's termination hearing and requested anonymity because of safety concerns.
PHOTOS: A tense manhunt amid tragic deaths
That day four years ago, authorities now allege, was the start of a free fall into despair and deadly violence for Dorner. Police say the 33-year-old ex-cop killed three people and injured others on a campaign to exact revenge against those he blamed for his downfall.
Friends and acquaintances who knew Dorner before he became a police officer struggled to reconcile the person they remembered with the image of the deeply disturbed man that emerged Thursday from a rambling manifesto that authorities said was published on what they believe is Dorner's Facebook page. The manifesto portrays Dorner as having no choice but to kill in order to reclaim his destroyed reputation.
"I am a man who has lost complete faith in the system, when the system betrayed, slandered and libeled me," the manifesto states.
PHOTOS: A fugitive's life on Facebook
Born in New York state, Dorner grew up in Southern California with his mother and at least one sister, according to public records and claims in the manifesto.
Dorner felt isolated growing up as one of the few African American children in the neighborhoods where he lived and was the victim of racism, according to the manifesto. "My first recollection of racism was in the first grade," Dorner allegedly wrote, recalling a fellow student at Norwalk Christian School who called him a racial slur. Dorner said he responded "fast and hard," punching and kicking the student.
It was an early, telling illustration of a notion Dorner returned to repeatedly throughout his life — that he was a victim, often wronged by others, records show.
As a teenager in La Palma, Dorner joined the Police Department's youth program, and decided to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Dorner went on to enroll at Southern Utah University, where he joined the school's football team and was befriended by a teammate, Jamie Usera.
Usera, who grew up in Alaska, said he and Dorner bonded over the feelings of culture shock that came with being outsiders on the predominantly white, Mormon campus.
Usera said he introduced Dorner to hunting and other outdoor sports. "He was a typical guy," he said. "I liked him an awful lot. Nothing about him struck me as violent or irrational in any way. He was opinionated, but always seemed level-headed."
Dorner often brought up race issues and the two had heated, but respectful arguments about the extent of racism in the country, Usera said. "Of all the people I hung out with in college, he is the last guy I would have expected to be in this kind of situation."
Neil Gardner, an assistant athletic director, knew Dorner through football and echoed Usera, saying Dorner was "never a disgruntled guy."
Dorner graduated in 2001 with a degree in political science and, soon after, enlisted in the Navy. Over the next several years, military records indicate Dorner received extensive combat and counter-terrorism training and earned commendations for his marksmanship with rifles and pistols.
In 2005, while still enlisted in the military, Dorner applied to the LAPD and earned a spot in one of the department's training academy classes. An officer in Dorner's class who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to discuss the case, recalled Dorner as "one of our problem children" who frequently pushed the bounds of authority .
A few days into training, the recruits were explicitly told to only wear white or black shoes for a conditioning run, the officer said. Dorner, however, showed up in bright neon sneakers. "He thought he knew it all, that rules just kind of didn't apply to him," the officer said. "He was not a team player."
According to the officer, Dorner was kicked out of his academy class at least one time, when he accidentally shot himself in the hand. Internal disciplinary records show that Dorner was suspended for two days for an accidental discharge in 2005. He finished his training with another academy class, the officer said, and joined the force as an officer in February 2006, police records show.
Months later, the Navy called him back into service and he departed for a 13-month deployment in Bahrain. When Dorner returned to the LAPD in July 2007, he had not yet completed his mandatory probation year and was partnered with Teresa Evans, a training officer in the San Pedro area.
Evans would later tell internal affairs investigators that Dorner confessed to her on the first day they worked together that he was unhappy with the way the LAPD handled a complaint he made against some of his classmates in the academy, according to police records. He believed the LAPD was a racist organization and told Evans he planned to sue the department at the end of his probation period, Evans reported.
Dorner repeatedly made mistakes in the field, Evans said. Shortly after becoming partners, they responded to a report of an armed man and Dorner stood in the middle of the street to confront the suspect without any cover, she said. Evans said she told Dorner that she was going to recommend that he be removed from the field unless he improved his performance, according to the internal affairs records.
Dorner, she said, repeatedly asked to return to the academy for more training after his return from military service and was upset that the department had not granted the request. On one occasion, Dorner cried in the patrol car with Evans and demanded the additional training, she said.
The struggling officer's ultimate undoing began on the morning of July 28, when he and Evans were dispatched to a report of a man who had refused to leave a local hotel.
The officers found the mentally ill man seated on a bench. When he refused a command to stand up, Dorner took the man's wrist and pulled him up, records show. A struggle ensued and Evans had to grab Dorner's Taser stun gun from his belt to subdue the man.
Nearly two weeks later, Evans criticized Dorner harshly in an evaluation report that included a long list of areas in which he needed improvement, including using common sense and good judgment. About the same time, Dorner called an LAPD sergeant whom he knew from the Navy and claimed he had witnessed Evans kick the man while he was being handcuffed. The sergeant told Dorner to report the incident to higher-ups or said he would do so himself. Dorner reported the misconduct, records show.
The department's internal affairs unit launched a probe into Dorner's allegations. Three hotel employees who witnessed much of the incident said they never saw Evans kick the man. And when the man arrived at the police station, he did not mention being kicked in the face when a physician treated him for his facial injuries. Investigators concluded there was no truth to Dorner's claim.
The witnesses' statements and Dorner's delay in coming forward "irreparably destroy Dorner's credibility," the department concluded in disciplinary records. Dorner was charged with making false statements and a false personnel complaint.
At Dorner's discipline hearing, the father of the man the partners arrested testified that his son had told him he had been kicked by an officer. Nonetheless the discipline board, found that Dorner had lied about the incident and fired him.
Dorner spent the next couple of years unsuccessfully appealing his termination. Then, this week, police say, Dorner made good on his threat to seek revenge when he fatally shot the daughter of an ex-LAPD captain who represented him at his discipline hearing. He also allegedly shot her fiance. Dorner went on to fatally shoot one officer and injure two others, police say.
"When the truth comes out," the manifesto states, "the killing stops."
The LAPD's first mistake was letting him back into the academy after he was booted out the first time. Accidental discharges were an absolute no-no.
Actually, when I read this article, I thought if all those claims are true then the LAPD is a very forgiving employer, but at the same time pretty sucky at weeding out the bad apples (hooray for mixed metaphors!). Of course that may simply be a function of having too few qualified applicants for vacant positions.
QuoteA few days into training, the recruits were explicitly told to only wear white or black shoes for a conditioning run, the officer said. Dorner, however, showed up in bright neon sneakers. "He thought he knew it all, that rules just kind of didn't apply to him," the officer said. "He was not a team player."
If he had done that to our academy instructors, one of them would've taken him out of the class and he would've been PT'd all day until he quit. :lol:
MY MOMMA WANTS TO FLY JETS MAYO-NAISE
Quote from: Syt on February 13, 2013, 07:54:08 AM
Actually, when I read this article, I thought if all those claims are true then the LAPD is a very forgiving employer, but at the same time pretty sucky at weeding out the bad apples (hooray for mixed metaphors!). Of course that may simply be a function of having too few qualified applicants for vacant positions.
He most likely wouldn't have gotten the extra chances he did if he were white. And yeah, I just went there, because the LAPD goes there. We certainly did.
An agency the size of the LAPD gets plenty of qualified applicants for vacant positions, but police departments are so hard up for qualified minorities with clean backgrounds they will do what they can to keep them, and recycling one through a 2nd training academy is a lot easier and cheaper than having to matriculate another candidate through the background process.
When I did my bit in recruiting and selection we were always, always hammered with 18%; absolutely had have 18% minorities in each academy class, female or not. 25% made the Chief spooge. Saw plenty of fine candidates miss that last open spot in an academy class to squeeze in a Dorner at the last second to hit that 18%.
Quote from: LaCroix on February 13, 2013, 03:07:29 AM
Quote from: derspiess on February 12, 2013, 07:39:16 PMSomething like a cult following. Pretty bizarre.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/christopher-dorner-fans-facebook-twitter_n_2647754.html
while i'm sure there are those who actually believe this is a tale of some sort of valiant figure enacting justice against a corrupt system, i've a bit of a sick affection for the guy. here's some pissed off ex-cop who who thinks he's on a mission, and clearly in the wrong, murdering innocents and costing the state millions, but the whole story seems like a rejected rambo script. i've jokingly referred to him as a hero of the people to friends. now the LAPD is saying no body has been found in the cabin they burned, and the story just gets more fascinating - maybe he died there but they haven't yet found the corpse, or maybe he escaped, who knows! i think many on the internet are interested in a similar sense, rooting for the bad guy while knowing he's clearly in the wrong.
i mean, just look at this. how awesome
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6169/dorner.jpg
:P
So you all are just jackasses?
Quote from: LaCroix on February 13, 2013, 03:07:29 AM
while i'm sure there are those who actually believe this is a tale of some sort of valiant figure enacting justice against a corrupt system, i've a bit of a sick affection for the guy.
Sick is absolutely the correct word for it.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 13, 2013, 07:48:40 AM
The LAPD's first mistake was letting him back into the academy after he was booted out the first time. Accidental discharges were an absolute no-no.
Wonder what happened to this dude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeGD7r6s-zU
Quote from: derspiess on February 13, 2013, 12:23:12 PM
Wonder what happened to this dude:
Speaking of accidental discharges, just this morning:
QuoteCity police training shooting leaves mayor angry, 'speechless'
Commissioner suspends police academy chain of command
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday there was "no acceptable explanation" for the shooting that critically wounded a University of Maryland campus police officer during a city police training exercise.
With state police conducting a criminal investigation, city police brass have launched a broad review after the unidentified officer was shot in the head Tuesday with a live round while training at a closed state psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills.
Among the subjects of the inquiry, according to a police spokesman, is that top command including the director of the training academy say they were unaware that the hospital site was being used for training. "There was a communication breakdown in the chain of command that is being investigated," said spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
There was also a lack of ranking supervisors on site, Guglielmi said.
He confirmed that Efren Edwards, a 25-year veteran and a training academy instructor detailed part-time to Police Commissioner Anthony Batts' executive protection unit, was among the officers present, though he was not the officer who fired the shots.
The wounded officer remained in critical condition Wednesday but was responsive, Guglielmi said.
Rawlings-Blake, who met with members of the wounded officer's family at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said she had confidence that police would "get to the bottom of it."
"I was so angry I was almost speechless to think that something like this could happen," Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday, speaking after the Board of Estimates meeting. "I made a commitment to the trainee's family that we would get to the bottom of it."
Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts immediately moved to suspend all police academy operations and training programs pending a safety review.
In an e-mail to staff, Batts said six members of the training academy chain of command, including training academy director Maj. Eric Russell, had been suspended pending further investigation. He also said that counseling is being provided to everyone involved.
"Our Professional Standards & Accountability Bureau is conducting an over-arching assessment of the incident. They have two goals: determine why this happened, and how we can prevent this type of tragic incident from ever happening again," Batts wrote in the e-mail. "We must do everything we can to learn from this horrible event and be as transparent and forthcoming as possible — we owe those involved in this tragedy nothing less."
He said the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission would also conduct a review.
State police are leading the criminal probe, because the shooting occurred at the former Rosewood Center, a state facility that has been used by other agencies for police training.
Few details of what happened have been made available, and it was unclear how live rounds found their way into a training environment.
The officer, who was not identified at the request of his family, is in his 40s and was hired by the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus in July 2012. Officers from smaller agencies commonly take part in training with larger police forces to conserve resources.
Retired Lt. Col. Michael Andrew, who oversaw the city's SWAT teams, said live ammunition is rarely used in any training scenario. Most guns used in training are distinguished by red handles and have no magazines or firing pins. In classroom settings, he said, "They won't even let you in the building with a loaded weapon."
Andrew said his SWAT teams trained weekly in a former city maintenance shop.
"They weren't using live ammunition," he said. "They would painstakingly make sure everything was unloaded and simulate live ammunition."
Police would not offer any details about Tuesday's training exercise, saying that information was part of their investigation. In recent years, police have described using "active shooter" training exercises in which officers use so-called "simunition" bullets similar to paintballs.
Simunitions are fired from a standard handgun and explode on impact. They allow officers to practice in realistic situations, often in abandoned buildings.
The former Rosewood Center dates to 1888 and once housed as many as 3,000 patients with developmental disabilities. Its population dwindled to 166 residents by 2010, when Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered its closure. Most of the remaining residents were relocated to group homes.
Yeah, I guarantee that these guys were at the facility to practice practical scenarios; busting down the doors, tossing flashbangs, etc. I think it's awesome that Batts suspended the entire academy command staff, but they're rarely involved in planning these things, since the academy instructors are the ones in charge of maintaining certification, and they probably just scheduled this for yearly cert amongst themselves. Been using abandoned buildings, warehouses, office complexes, etc., for years. It's stupid and Rosewood is a frigging condemned dump, but where else are they going to do it.
But man, how the hell live ammo was doing there is beyond me. Somebody done fucked up.
Now that I left that company, I probably won't go to Owings Mills ever again.
Fine then. :mad:
Well if you find yourself there by accident, definitely stay away from abandoned psych hospitals.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 13, 2013, 03:49:26 PM
Quote from: derspiess on February 13, 2013, 12:23:12 PM
Wonder what happened to this dude:
Speaking of accidental discharges, just this morning:
This is from 2 years ago, but the Portland Police do pretty well too. An officer "accidentally" fired lethal rounds from their non-lethal beanbag shotgun.
http://www.kgw.com/news/Officer-involved-shooting-in-Portland-124794169.html
QuotePORTLAND -- Portland police announced late Thursday afternoon that an officer had mistakenly fired lethal shotgun rounds at a suspect instead of the intended, less-lethal beanbag rounds earlier in the day.
A man was taken to Oregon Health & Sciences University with pellet wounds to the hip. He was expected to survive.
The shooting was in the 3600 block of Southwest Barbur Boulevard. There was a massive response that included dozens of officers, detectives, lawyers, police union reps, the police chief and even the mayor.
Dispatchers said the first 9-1-1 call came in around 9:55 a.m. about an intoxicated man harassing children at a summer camp in Lair Hill Park. Other calls said the man had a knife concealed up a sleeve, and that he had left the park.
Officers encountered a man several blocks away at Naito and Curry and one officer fired what was thought to be beanbag rounds.
"The Police Bureau began carrying less lethal beanbag shotguns in the mid-1990s," bureau spokesman Lt. Robert King said in a prepared statement. "An incident like this has never occurred prior to today. Training protocols require the officers who are certified in this weapon to visually inspect each round. Lethal rounds are red and blue and less lethal rounds are yellow and clear in color. Officers are required to also do a safety check and load the weapon at the beginning of their shift."
The shooting drew both Chief Michael Reese and Mayor Sam Adams to the scene, as well as, for the first time, a representative of the city's Independent Police Review Division, part of a revised ordinance on officer-involved shootings.
"We are just at the beginning stages of this investigation," Chief Michael Reese said in the same prepared statement "Our training protocols are designed to prevent this from happening. I have instructed supervisors to immediately remind every less lethal beanbag shotgun operator to visually inspect each round as they are loaded into the weapon and review less lethal beanbag shotgun training protocols."
The officer who fired the rounds is a 15-year bureau veteran and was placed on paid administrative leave. He was not identified by the bureau.
On Friday, the Portland Police Association union issued a statement that read "We stand in support of Officer Reister as he goes through this difficult process in regards to yesterday's incident. As the PPA, we look forward to a positive resolutioni to this unfortunate occurence."
Police declined further comment but King said more would coming Friday.
Dan Handelman of activist group Portland Cop Watch called the error "absolutely horrifying." Even though this was the only mistake since 1995, he said it's one time too many.
The bureau uses two types of shotguns, one with a stock that's colorized to show it's for beanbag use. Handelman thinks police should have a shotgun that shoots only beanbag rounds, in a different size from lethal rounds used in a regular shotgun.
Detectives spent all afternoon collecting evidence at the scene and interviewing several witnesses.
"You know, (it sounded like) bam, bam, bam. It didn't sound like fireworks, thinking back at it," witness Michael Irvine told KGW.
In 2008, Reister was videotaped while interviewing some men on the street. He took the camera and cited the person shooting the video for illegally taping him. According to a story in the Oregonian, the district attorney's office declined to prosecute the case.
Here is the videotape:
QuoteSan Bernardino County sheriff's officials have positively identified the charred remains found in a mountain cabin Tuesday as being the body of Christopher Dorner.
Officials said they made the identification using dental records during the autopsy.
The announcement brings a formal end to the epic manhunt for Dorner, who was accused of killing four people, including two law enforcement officers. He was killed at the end of a hours-long standoff in a cabin near Big Bear on Tuesday afternoon.
SWAT officers in the cabin standoff decided to use highly flammable "hot gas" canisters as a last resort after other efforts to persuade Dorner to surrender failed, according to law enforcement sources.
Officers made the decision to use the canisters, which caused the cabin to catch fire, as the sun was setting Tuesday and authorities worried about dealing with Dorner at night in the remote Big Bear area, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. Dorner had continued to fire on officers, and they feared more deputies would be hurt or killed, they added.
Authorities had chased Dorner into the cabin on Seven Oaks Road on Tuesday afternoon amid a massive gun battle in which one San Bernardino County deputy was killed and another seriously wounded.
Law enforcement officers lobbed conventional tear gas into the cabin, but when Dorner failed to emerge they used CS gas canisters, a more intense weapon known to start fires, and sent in a demolition vehicle. Dorner is believe to have died inside, though it is unclear if the fire caused his death.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said deputies did not purposely burn down the cabin. He said they deployed the CS canisters after they were left with no other options.
"I can tell you it was not on purpose," he said. "We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out."
McMahon praised the deputies involved in the standoff. "It was like a war zone, and our deputies continued to go in the area .... Our deputies are true heroes."
Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer embittered by his firing in 2009, killed the daughter of a retired LAPD captain, her fiance and two law officers during a nine-day rampage that began in Irvine, police say.
In Riverside on Wednesday, police motorcycles led a lengthy procession toward a service for Michael Crain, the slain Riverside officer.
Mary Ann Taylor, who lives down the street from the Grove Community Church where the service was held, stood with her twin granddaughters and watched as police cars filed past with flashing lights.
"Put your hands over your hearts. Show some respect for them," Taylor told the girls, adding: "I think all of us feel the sadness of the last few days."
Big Bear Lake Mayor Jay Obernolte said he was relieved that the manhunt was over. The area was "freed of the sense of being a community that is not safe because there is a cop-killer hiding in our little mountain town."
Quote from: sbr on February 13, 2013, 06:30:45 PM
This is from 2 years ago, but the Portland Police do pretty well too.
Yeah, good ol' "hipster Portland" has some pretty non-hipstery cops.
QuoteUPDATE: Taylor Swift Back Together With Ex-Boyfriend Christopher Dorner
BIG BEAR LAKE, CA—Just hours after she was left broken-hearted by the death of boyfriend Christopher Dorner, sources reported that Taylor Swift rekindled her romance with the deceased California cop killer Wednesday and has been inseparable from his charred remains ever since. "Taylor was absolutely crushed when her beau barricaded himself in a remote cabin and committed suicide, but after some intense soul-searching, she realized she couldn't live without him," Popsugar.com blogger Kristen Stern said of the rekindled romance between the 23-year-old singer-songwriter and the deceased subject of the LAPD's largest-ever manhunt. "Now the Swifner romance is back on! Fans caught the country cupcake canoodling with Christopher's burnt corpse at a San Bernardino County coroner's office this afternoon, and friends say she's planning a special Valentine's Day surprise for her man. She's definitely smitten." At press time, paparazzi photographed the couple cozying up together inside Dorner's body bag.
QuoteLOS ANGELES—Los Angeles residents are reportedly on edge today following reports that hundreds of armed and extremely dangerous Los Angeles Police Department officers are resuming regular patrolling duties after the conclusion of Tuesday's manhunt for rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner. "I mean, just knowing they're out there is terrifying—how can I feel safe when these maniacs are on the loose in my neighborhood?" said a visibly rattled Ashley Stillson, 38, who explained that she strictly observed the city's advisory to avoid the historically violent, unpredictable predators by going out in groups and avoiding the streets entirely after nightfall. "These guys are volatile and, in many cases, mentally unstable. Something needs to be done about them because I fear for my family knowing these sick people are still at large." At press time, sources reported the tense mood in L.A. had brightened considerably after news of a serial rapist diverted numerous LAPD officers to a sprawling manhunt in nearby San Bernardino.
Y'all trying to make us People's Daily?