Big Bear Lake, CA, February 15, 2013 – Law enforcement officers shut down Glass road Friday after a hiker found a previously undetected weapon that was part of Tuesday’s firefight with Christopher Dorner.
In a press conference Friday afternoon, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon added that the officers that came under fire in Seven Oaks were not yet aware which cabin Dorner had entered. The single shot heard from outside that cabin appears to have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound – from a different weapon then had been used against peace officers.
Adding to a series of close calls with the fugitive, owners of the burned-down cabin said just two days prior, relatives had been staying there. The home was destroyed after officers fired pyrotechnic tear gas containers known as “burners” into the building.
McMahon defended the delay of local deputies in positively identifying the truck found on forestry road 2n10 on February 7, saying they were wisely reluctant to go into what could have been ambush situation. Instead, they waited for a tactical team that included reinforcements from off the mountain.
“I don’t believe we made any mistakes at this point. Our deputies and the SWAT team performed their search flawlessly during heavy snow. They did not give up, they continued through the night, and if we hadn’t sent them home, they would’ve continued until they dropped,” said McMahon
What remains to be answered is how Dorner was able to move undetected from the crash site to the Club View cabin with such a large cache of weapons.
