Only two traffic lanes were open on southbound Interstate 5 at the Mexican border today, as the hunt for a suspected cop- killer apparently caused an unusual and massive traffic jam.
Christopher Jordan Dorner
Officers wearing body armor and cradling rifles were photographed watching traffic heading through the unusual bottleneck at the Mexican border. But police and federal agents would not confirm if the unusual police tactic was a result of the manhunt for Christopher Jordan Dorner at the busiest border crossing in the world.
Law enforcement officers in San Diego County and across the Southwest remained on heightened alert for a third consecutive day today. But police and the sheriff’s office reported no new possible sightings of Dorner, 33, who was fired by the Los Angeles Police Department five years ago.
In Los Angeles, police Chief Charlie Beck refused to make any comments as he attended a City Hall prayer breakfast.
Both the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department were maintaining regular staffing levels as authorities in the Big Bear area resumed their search.
Dorner, a former Navy officer, had been staying at at the Navy Base Point Loma and had tried to steal a boat during his crime spree, police believe.
Dorner vowed online Monday to kill named and unnamed LAPD officers and their families to avenge what he described as a campaign of unfair treatment that cost him his career. Dorner also allegedly threatened to target officers from other agencies if they tried to halt his vendetta.
The former Navy reservist suspected in the slayings of 28-year-old Monica Quan and her finance, 27-year-old Keith Lawrence, who were found shot to death Sunday night in a parked car in Irvine, and the ambush killing of a Riverside police officer four days later.
Quan was the daughter of a now-retired LAPD captain who represented Dorner at the Board of Rights hearing that led to his firing, and the killings were carried out in an act of revenge outlined in the lengthy manifesto, which blames Quan’s father for losing his job.
“We’re at regular staffing at this point, but we have other special units that are monitoring what’s going on and if things come up, they’ll be able to respond, but there’s nothing at this point because we don’t have any information about him bring in this area,” said sheriff’s Lt. Scott Amos.
San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick said SDPD personnel were being updated with any new information that came up in the investigation into what he said was “a dangerous individual.”
On Friday, law enforcement personnel across San Diego County investigated numerous unfounded reports of Dorner sightings.
Law enforcement agencies throughout San Diego County went on high alert Thursday after Dorner’s LAPD badge and identification were found near Lindbergh
Field and a possible sighting of the suspect was reported at Navy Gateway Inn and Suites, where he had stayed on Tuesday.
The hotel went into lockdown status for several hours amid the manhunt.
By mid-afternoon Friday, the search had moved onto San Bernardino County after Dorner’s pickup truck was found burning just off a forest road in Big
Bear.
All the areas where someone could have walked away from the truck were being searched, Cindy Bachman, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Anyone spotting Dorner, whose last known address is in La Palma, should consider him armed and “extremely dangerous” and should not approach or try
contacting him but instead call 911 immediately, police said.
A tip line has been established and can be reached at 949-724-7192.
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How could one man elude so many police officers?