Sep 23, 2019
Ashlie: (00:18)
Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Living by LEO Warriors.
I’m your host, Ashlie Walton.
Clint:
And I'm your co-host Clint Walton.
Ashlie:
In today's episode, we're going to talk about a name that I
literally want to put in my mouth, chew up, spit out, stomp on a
million times, walk away from and never hear again. And that's
Christopher Dorner. So just sit back, relax and enjoy today's
content.
Ashlie: (00:51)
If you as a listener remember anything about this, I'm going to
take you through the journey of everything that I remember for
anybody that might be listening who doesn't.
Speaker 2: (01:02)
Back in February of 2013 it was all over the news. There was a
suspect that murdered the daughter of an ex La police department
captain and her fiancé. And in the beginning nobody knew who it
was. And then something crazy started to happen because another
murder took place. There was a Riverside police officer named
Michael Crane that was ambushed by another suspect and quickly
officers and detectives were able to link the two murders together.
And as though that wasn't enough, there was this pattern. It was
almost like an arsonist starting fires all over the place.
Ashlie: (01:59)
Because three additional police officers and personnel were shot
and wounded. And in the midst of everything, Detective Jeremiah
McCain was also shot. He exchanged gunfire. When they finally
realized who this person was, this person was a former LAPD police
officer. He was dismissed back in 2008 for making full statements.
So that means from 2008 until February of 2013 some things started
to manifest and I say manifest because if you were to read this
psychos manifesto, you would see that he was very set in planning
out what it was that he was going to do this day. I want you to
take the listener through a bit about what you remember when all of
this first started because this started as a murder and it turned
into this nine day manhunt for this psycho.
Clint: (03:13)
I remember, you know, first hearing about the murders that happened
in Orange County and I was like, well that sucks. Yeah. You know,
it's just an unfortunate incident. Didn't think anything of it.
Then when we found out it was this Guy Christopher Dorner, and we
started hearing more and more come up with him and his manifesto
and and everything else that was related around him. It started set
off red flags. You know, after hearing about his manifesto, our
agency, you know, we were tasked with writing two man units and
focusing patrols just because the heightened awareness and this guy
started targeting actual officers for no apparent reason. I
remember the night that Michael Crane was shot, he, he was just
getting off the freeway. I think they were getting ready, him and
his trainee, we're going to go grab some coffee and this guy just
pulled up next to him and just shot him.
Clint: (04:24)
Him and his partner both. And unfortunately Michael died in that
incident later finding out that he was just going on a rampage
pretty much anywhere and everywhere he could and creating havoc.
But he knew that law enforcement was hot on his tail and that in
turn turned to this outcry of people making reports and seeing his
vehicle, seeing anything in everything, matching that description.
And that kind of turned into a whole different problem in itself.
In any incident instance like this, it creates a whole different
problem because then we had the public helping us. But a lot of the
times it's false reports, but we don't know if it's a false report
or not. We have to approach every situation as we're given. And I
recall a newspaper delivery man was shot in a city in La somewhere
because he was driving the same vehicle and was driving fast
towards officers and they believed he was possibly related or that
was the shooter. And it's unfortunate that that men had to get
injured off of it. But luckily who survived a few days later, they
actually got a tip. And, and that's where the public's help helps
us tremendously that he was seeing up in big bear area. And
numerous agencies responded to that location. I know, I remember
they were flying helicopters from La Police Department, the San
Bernardino County sheriff's department, the San Bernardino Police
Department went out there. And those were the main players involved
in this instance. So after, uh, a brief pursuit following
Christopher Dorner, they cornered them pretty much in a cabin.
Clint: (06:32)
There was almost a peace of mind now that, okay, well he's not in
about out and about creating havoc. They positively identified him
as that, but the real task had just begun, but we don't have to be
on edge anymore. So when the swat teams started making their
approach and everything that they do in could, he started shooting
an officer's and that's when detective Jeremiah McKay got shot and
another officer from the sheriff's department. And unfortunately
that happened. But that's what most of us sign up for. It's most of
us want to go out there and protect communities from madmen just
like him.
Ashlie: (07:24)
And you talk about this sense of awareness, this, this heightened
and intense knowing that there's danger.
Ashlie: (07:36)
Even more so than what you normally face. And I remember as the
wife of a police officer also feeling that sense of awareness
amplified.
Ashlie: (07:49)
I don't typically worry about you on a day to day. I'm very
confident in your abilities.
Ashlie: (07:58)
But this was different. This was different because we knew there
was an enemy really just looking for any officer that he could. And
I would imagine any one that he did come across, he was targeting
them directly and he would have shot without any sense of reserve.
That's what, what the makeup was in his manifesto. That's what he
was going for. And I know also the amount of overtime that you had
to work was incredible. And that left me with a little bit more
time with my own thoughts, I guess. And I just couldn't believe
that this was happening. I couldn't believe that there was a
literal trail from one incident to another for somebody nobody
could find.
Ashlie: (09:00)
And I think that by having so much insight like he did from being a
former police officer, he knew a lot of the tactics. He thought he
was one step ahead of you guys the entire time until he no longer
was.
Ashlie: (09:19)
And as cynical as this might sound... I also remember the upset
from a lot of officers that this lunatic got to take his own life
after what he took away from the life of so many other officers and
their families. And it's just crazy to me. It's crazy because I
wonder where it all started. You can read the manifesto, you can
make up your own thoughts in your head, but something happened from
2008 to 2013 that I believe was really boiling for so many years
and really being planned for so many years that there was no way to
prepare. It's almost like going back to nine 11 back in 2001 and
thinking about how methodical that was and how out of sight
something like that was, especially for that time, nobody would've
ever thought that a former police officer would go on a manhunt for
other police officers the way that this guy did.
Speaker 2: (10:35)
And Clint, can you talk a little bit about the way that the
agencies were able to come together, at least in your mind, the way
that they did to finally find this guy and then make sure that
problem was solved?
Clint: (10:51)
Tactically speaking, looking at every instance involved with it. It
was great. You know, La, this was majorly LAPD [inaudible]
investigation. Um, Riverside PD got involved when their officers
were shot and killed and then the outlying agencies surrounding
Riverside such as San Bernardino police department, Rialto Police
Department, the San Bernardino Sheriff's department, they were
afforded the opportunities to assist in any way that they could to
assist those other agencies. And that goes into respect of when
they located them in big bear, the sheriff's department, pretty
much they got the tip and they located him. They chased him to
where he later killed himself. But at that point you didn't have
Ellie police department saying, no, we're taking over tactical
control. You didn't have any of the other agency saying we're
better than you, that we have more manpower to contain this right
now. They allowed the agency jurisdiction that was there to really
dictate what occurred at that incident. And that's what was great
is the response was from so many agencies and so many officers just
responded in, completely handled the situation to the best of their
capabilities at that time. And there's, from my mindset, there was
nothing, nothing negative that could be spun from it. Some people
will say, well, the smoke grenades that they sent in to the house
at the House on fire subsequently burned him. But he committed
suicide before that even happened.
Clint: (12:50)
And you can't necessarily control those instances. In my mind, it's
for me personally, I think it would've been okay if he burned
alive.
Ashlie: (13:02)
I can't argue with that.
Ashlie: (13:04)
And there was no way that he was going to allow himself, at least
from what I've learned and read about him to be shot by police
officers. So I mean, he, he knew what he was doing. He knew that he
wasn't going to hide in that cabin in big bear for long.
Clint: (13:23)
And he knew he wasn't going to be taken alive. And that's the
scariest thing that we ever face as police officers.
Ashlie: (13:35)
I don't really know how to wrap today's episode up apart from
really just wanting to give the, do justice to the four people who
lost their lives and the three other that were wounded during this
instance.
Ashlie: (13:51)
It's easy for people who aren't directly involved to allow time to
go on, but in this episode, I just want to take a moment and just
remember those that lost their lives. And as better, uh, situations
like this are, there's also a gift to be found. And the gift is the
empowerment and the learning that takes place on the backend of
this. And when you're able to find those pieces of light, even in
the darkest times, then you're really able to enjoy your Tactical
Living.
Balance. Optimize. Tactics.
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