I will start this post by saying in no way do I condone Dorner's actions.
I also am well aware that the LAPD are likely fraught with internal issues.
That said, I found some interesting points after reading through this thread. The following is taken from: San Bernardino County sheriff: 'This investigation is over' - CNN.com
The following text shows the fire started much later than the awful comments. The full articles I'm linking in this post also show they tried other tactics before the incendiary tear gas was finally delivered into the cabin.
Quote:
Some of the firefight between police and the suspect was captured live on the telephone of a reporter for CNN affiliates KCBS and KCAL. Police in Los Angeles listened live over police scanners broadcast on the Internet, LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman said.
"It was horrifying to listen to that firefight," he said. "To hear those words, 'officer down,' is the most gut-wrenching experience you can have as a police officer, because you know what that means."
Audio from a Los Angeles television station captured the sound of someone early in the standoff shouting, "Burn it down ... burn that goddamn house down. Burn it down." It's not clear who used those words.
But the order to use smoke canisters -- "burners" -- didn't come for another two hours, according to San Bernardino County sheriff's radio traffic.
"Seven burners deployed, and we have a fire," one officer reported at 4:16 p.m. (7:16 p.m. ET).
Five minutes later, a single gunshot was reported from inside the house. A senior officer ordered units around the cabin, "Stand by. Maintain your discipline." About a minute after that, officers reported ammunition exploding inside.
Sheriff's investigators confirmed overnight that they had found charred human remains among the ashes.
As for the people he murdered...he targeted at least two of them specifically, in his own words.
Taken from: How Christopher Dorner Went Down - The Daily Beast
Quote:
In Dorner’s rambling, 6,000-word Facebook post, he pledged to wage "asymmetrical warfare" against the Los Angeles Police Department. He had worked with the force from 2005 to 2008, and was fired in 2009 for allegedly making false statements against his training officer, whom he alleged had kicked and punched a mentally ill man.
The rambling manifesto was posted the day after the bodies of 27-year-old Monica Quan, a California State, Fullerton assistant basketball coach, and her fiancé, Keith Lawrence, were found shot multiple times in a parking garage in Irvine on Sunday, Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of Randy Quan, a retired LAPD captain who represented Dorner at a hearing on his firing and who is one of about 50 people Dorner blamed for his dismissal in his manifesto. Quan was explicitly addressed in the Facebook post: "I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own…[so] I am terminating yours."
On Thursday, Dorner is believed to have killed Riverside police officer Michael Crain and severely injured his partner
And during the manhunt it appears the LAPD never killed any of the innocent people they shot at.
According to this: Timeline in manhunt for ex-L.A. cop turned fugitive - CNN.com
Quote:
February 7: Police shoot two in Torrance in mistaken identity case
While searching for Dorner, police shot two people in Torrance in a case of mistaken identity, the Los Angeles police chief said.
LAPD officers assigned to protect someone who "was under the most serious levels of threat" saw a vehicle early in the morning that looked like Dorner's, Beck said. He said the vehicle was moving down a street with its lights off.
The officers shot two people in the vehicle, but neither turned out to be connected to the Dorner case, Beck said.
Both were taken to a hospital. One was in stable condition Thursday with two gunshot wounds, and the other was expected to be released shortly, Beck said.
"I ... feel great sadness for the injuries suffered by ... the two uninvolved citizens in Torrance," he said.
Police also shot at another pickup matching the description of Dorner's vehicle in Torrance, but no one was injured in that incident, a senior law enforcement source said
So Dorner said he would kill people, he did kill people, and then he did a whole lot of things to make the situation worse. While the LAPD hunted him they had some trigger-happy assholes and people with bad ideas speaking on an open radio but they never actually killed anyone.
I'm very certain this incident will cause a very large spotlight to shine on police actions in Los Angeles.
Dorner did have a legitimate reason to be upset with the LAPD and the actions that were perpetuated by so many of his former fellow officers. However, should the police chief's daughter have paid the price for her father's mistakes? She's dead, so is another cop...