LAPD Offers Their Insight Into Dorner Standoff Near Big Bear

In their regularly scheduled daily 3 p.m. press briefing, the Los Angeles Police Department's Commander Andrew Smith addressed the current standoff situation between authorities and a man believed to be triple murder suspect and ex-cop Christopher Jordan Dorner.

Smith said because this is an incident being handled by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department (SBCSD), he only had limited information available. Smith provided a brief narrative of the events today leading up to the current scenario in which the suspect is barricaded inside a cabin in a remote wooded area near Big Bear.

At 12:22 p.m., deputies with the SBCSD on the hunt for Dorner received a call of a stolen vehicle from a location on Club View Drive, and the suspected car thief matched the description of Dorner. The vehicle was spotted at Highway 38 and Glass Road, and the suspect inside the vehicle fled, then headed into the cabin. Gunfire was exchanged, and two SBCSD deputies were hit.

The LAPD's involvement thus far is minimal in the current barricaded situation, though Smith said they are ready to help if the SBCSD makes the call to ask for their help.

Smith said the LAPD have sent "resources" to the area that are on hold at the San Bernardino Airport; he said because there is concern the suspect has access to television in the cabin, he did not want to reveal what those resources are.

Additionally, Smith confirmed that the LAPD asked that media covering the barricade situation from the air pull back their positions, as broadcasting the current scene could put authorities at an "extreme tactical disadvantage."

Smith said they cannot, in fact, currently confirm the suspect in the cabin is Dorner, though the "likelihood is that it's him," the Commander acknowledged. He also refuted rumors that LAPD Chief Charlie Beck was en route to Big Bear to the scene of the barricade, noting Beck was still in Los Angeles.

For their part, Smith says the LAPD are working on 1,045 tips that have been provided to them, though he says some are "panning out" while some are "obviously dead ends."

The wish of the LAPD is that Dorner surrender, and that the manhunt "ends without any further bloodshed." Smith remarked, "the best thing for now would be for [Dorner] to surrender, and we can take him into custody and he can face the criminal justice system," adding, "until he's in handcuffs, none of us [at the LAPD] are going to rest."

Should Dorner be in the cabin and listening, Smith had a simple message for him: "Enough is enough."