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Law enforcement officers check a vehicle at a roadblock Tuesday Feb. 12, 2013 near Big Bear, Calif. A man police believe to be the fugitive ex-Los Angeles officer wanted in three killings was barricaded inside a burning cabin Tuesday after a shootout in this California mountain town that left one deputy dead and another wounded.
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif.—The manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a killing spree converged Tuesday on a mountain cabin where authorities believe he barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shootout that killed a deputy and then never emerged as the home went up in flames.

A single gunshot was heard from within, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press late Tuesday that officials had found a charred body.

If the body of Christopher Dorner is found inside, as authorities suspect, the search for the most wanted man in America over the last week would have ended the way he had expected—death, with the police pursuing him. He is believed to have killed at least four people.

Law Enforcement personnel gear up along Hwy 38 during the hunt for accused killer and fired Los Angeles police officer, Christopher Dorner in Yacaipa,
Law Enforcement personnel gear up along Hwy 38 during the hunt for accused killer and fired Los Angeles police officer, Christopher Dorner in Yacaipa, Caif.,Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. Dorner, a man police believe to be the fugitive ex-Los Angeles officer wanted in three killings, was barricaded inside a burning cabin Tuesday after a shootout in a California mountain town that left one deputy dead and another wounded. ((AP Photo/Chris Carlson))


"Enough is enough. It's time for you to turn yourself in. It's time to stop the bloodshed," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said at a news conference held outside police headquarters in Los Angeles, a starkly different atmosphere than last week when Dorner was on the loose and officials briefed the news media under heavy security in an underground hallway.




There were conflicting reports about whether a body had been found inside shortly after the fire, with both the Los Angeles and San Bernardino authorities disputing the find in separate news conferences. But an official later told the AP a body had been seen in the rubble. The official requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.


It's believed that Dorner broke into a house near where his truck was found and tied two people up.

About mid-day Tuesday, wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted a purple Nissan car that had been reported stolen, department spokesman Lt. Patrick Foy said. The wardens recognized the driver as someone matching Dorner's description.

They pursued the driver and briefly lost him when he turned onto a side road. Three other wardens in two vehicles turned onto the road a short time later, and were searching for the car when they saw a white pickup truck driving toward them erratically and at a high rate of speed.

Wardens got a close look at the driver and realized it was Dorner, who rolled down his window and opened fire, Foy said.

The wildlife vehicle was hit numerous times, and one of the wardens was able to get out and fire at the driver, who escaped on foot after crashing his truck.




Earlier, a SWAT team surrounded the cabin and used an armored vehicle to break out the cabin windows, the official said. The officers then pumped a gas into the cabin and blasted a message over a loudspeaker: "Surrender or come out."

The armored vehicle then tore down each of the cabin's four walls, like peeling back the layers of an onion, the official said.









Chief Charlie Beck, who initially dismissed the allegations in the rant, said he reopened the investigation into his firing—not to appease the ex-officer, but to restore confidence in the black community, which long had a fractured relationship with police that has improved in recent years.




He left the service on Feb. 1.