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The Straight Story

(48,121 posts)
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 08:22 PM Feb 2013

Coroner concludes Dorner died from single gunshot wound to head. Evidence indicates self-inflicted

Coroner concludes Dorner died from single gunshot wound to head. Evidence indicates it was self-inflicted -

Breaking on AP, no link right this sec other thank twitter and

http://www.breakingnews.com/

50 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Coroner concludes Dorner died from single gunshot wound to head. Evidence indicates self-inflicted (Original Post) The Straight Story Feb 2013 OP
I'd have thought that would be obvious. dipsydoodle Feb 2013 #1
I would have thought so also Light House Feb 2013 #2
that single gunshot came after they set the cabin ablaze frylock Feb 2013 #3
Yeah, OK. Light House Feb 2013 #6
yeah i get it.. frylock Feb 2013 #10
We have a difference of opinion Light House Feb 2013 #14
Rather than surrendering pintobean Feb 2013 #7
Yep. emulatorloo Feb 2013 #11
Or being shot the instant he came out of the cabin to surrender kenny blankenship Feb 2013 #47
You ascribe a lot of logical thought marions ghost Feb 2013 #49
If the house I was in was set on fire thucythucy Feb 2013 #17
no way was he getting out of that house alive.. frylock Feb 2013 #25
And he knew that, which is why he chose to be in power. joshcryer Feb 2013 #27
that is indeed likely to be the case, on all counts frylock Feb 2013 #29
Only if the scene commander draws back and lays siege kenny blankenship Feb 2013 #48
we got that info about immediately with the single shot heard. i agree. nt seabeyond Feb 2013 #19
It was obvious. Just not accepted here. nt geek tragedy Feb 2013 #38
Well, that and the 1,200 degree heat, or fear of dying by fire. NYC_SKP Feb 2013 #4
Seriously? Evergreen Emerald Feb 2013 #12
Your wrong. Light House Feb 2013 #20
the slang comes from the proper name, which is PYROTECHNIC gas grenade.. frylock Feb 2013 #28
The term burner is also used because of the intense burning sensation it causes. Light House Feb 2013 #41
then you know that they have the potential to cause fires, which was the desired outcome. frylock Feb 2013 #42
Yes I do know that Light House Feb 2013 #43
Ordinary teargas had been used earlier. LA Times: DevonRex Feb 2013 #21
Autopsy revealed cause of death. His own gun. geek tragedy Feb 2013 #37
He denied himself due process. nt EastKYLiberal Feb 2013 #5
Yep. (nt) Posteritatis Feb 2013 #9
You really think if he would have walked out he would of lived? n-t Logical Feb 2013 #13
Hands in the air, unarmed? Yes emulatorloo Feb 2013 #15
Well, I am sure he would have "reached for a gun" and been killed. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #16
yes but Shivering Jemmy Feb 2013 #18
LOL, yes, like the paper delivery women or the surfer. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #22
They weren't armed. He was and had an MO Shivering Jemmy Feb 2013 #34
I'll try to recover. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #35
You are aware that those who shot at the cars were not the same department as those at the cabin nt Bodhi BloodWave Feb 2013 #50
He could have surrendered any time during the week he was on the run. Light House Feb 2013 #23
Ah, so shoot yourself in the head to avoid getting shot jberryhill Feb 2013 #30
Spree killers do that quite often. UnrepentantLiberal Feb 2013 #31
Oh, I know that jberryhill Feb 2013 #32
They've probably beat you to it. UnrepentantLiberal Feb 2013 #33
Yes, control your own death instead of letting cops execute you. I agree, better plan. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #36
Of course, if he hadn't become a serial killer he'd be alive right now. nt DevonRex Feb 2013 #39
Not defending Dormer at all. But that does not means the cops are not wrong. n-t Logical Feb 2013 #40
I can believe that. Puzzledtraveller Feb 2013 #8
He did to himself what he did to those four Cha Feb 2013 #24
There's only one thing. If you watch the videos, you never hear that single gun shot robinlynne Feb 2013 #26
It was reported by the newsperson on scene just a few moments after the fire started. n/t cherokeeprogressive Feb 2013 #45
So, burning him to crisp was just icing on the cake? nt MrScorpio Feb 2013 #44
At least the stain is gone. sakabatou Feb 2013 #46
 

Light House

(413 posts)
2. I would have thought so also
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 08:42 PM
Feb 2013

but there were several people that were claiming that LE denied Dorner of his right to due process and his right to a trial.

 

Light House

(413 posts)
6. Yeah, OK.
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 08:55 PM
Feb 2013

Dorner had already made it crystal clear that he wasn't going to be taken alive and he was going to take as many LEO as he could with him before he was taken out.

The country and the world is a better place without him and I won't shed any tears for him.
My tears are reserved for the victims and the families this murderous monster destroyed.

frylock

(34,825 posts)
10. yeah i get it..
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:00 PM
Feb 2013

non sequitur after non sequitur. many of us are able to condemn dorner as well as the tactics employed by law enforcement throughout this entire event. others aren't.

 

Light House

(413 posts)
14. We have a difference of opinion
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:04 PM
Feb 2013

and while I may disagree with you, I do respect your right to your opinion.

kenny blankenship

(15,689 posts)
47. Or being shot the instant he came out of the cabin to surrender
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 02:27 PM
Feb 2013

The San Bernadino cops were obviously thirsting for vengeance after two of their own had been shot with one killed. Listening to the tapes of the scanner you can only conclude that Dorner's chances to surrender are very close to nil. No one is there to film them shoot him down after surrendering. He'd be shot dead -white flag or no- and the department would unite around the killing "in memory of our fallen" and we would never be told the truth.

The only way Dorner could be induced to surrender, and the only way the enraged local police could be induced not to murder him if he tried, would be for the commander on the scene to impose a cooling off period by way of a more drawn out siege.

If there was a protracted siege, it is quite likely that Dorner shoots himself anyway rather than surrendering. For those who justify the frontal assault on the cabin and subsequent arson, both of which were surely meant to kill him, by saying that "Dorner wanted to end it this way" I say, law enforcement doesn't exist to give criminals what they want. They aren't there to grant mad dog killers their wishes for a final "blaze of glory" shootout. The first priority is to safeguard the lives of the public. Dorner surrounded in the cabin isn't able to threaten the public. The second priority is to bring criminals into custody to face the justice system. Christopher Dorner had constructed a legend of himself in his own mind in which he was the hero battling an evil grand conspiracy embodied in the police forces of Los Angeles - and wherever else he ran to. Because he never faced the justice system, he got to believe his own bullshit right to the end. He never had to face the fact that he was a criminal, not a hero. He stayed the hero warrior in his tale because the police were willing to play the part he scripted for them. You don't defeat legends with bullets, but by countering their fictions with facts. That happens only in a courtroom. It's done by very ordinary boring non-heroic people called judges, attorneys and juries. Dorner needed his legend destroyed by methodical exposition of facts: this is what you did Mr. Dorner - your manifesto can neither excuse nor acquit you. You're not a revolution, Mr. Dorner, just a selfish miserable fuck up and a conscienceless killer. He lost the battle, but his legend won a kind of moral victory by not being deflated and disproved to his face. This way -"ending it the way he wanted" - the legend becomes something that can survive him and spread. He dragged the cops down to his level by forcing them to meet him in battle like equals. He dragged them down and trapped them in a squalid struggle for vengeance - not totally unlike his own.

marions ghost

(19,841 posts)
49. You ascribe a lot of logical thought
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 03:23 PM
Feb 2013

to a psychotic mind...

Your last line gets to the essence of motive--

"He dragged them down and trapped them in a squalid struggle for vengeance - not totally unlike his own."

-----------------

I don't agree that the cops would have shot him if he came out hands up & weaponless. That would have not been a smart thing to do, even if they felt like it (which I'm sure they did).

Agreed, Dorner would never surrender. He could have run out the back even when they lit the thing. He was never going to give them the satisfaction of being captured. The cops decided to force him to make a clear choice. He did that IMO.

Not everyone wants to save themselves. People have a hard time understanding that. Should the cops have "worked harder" to save his life? Maybe. That's where they likely decided in the negative.

thucythucy

(8,069 posts)
17. If the house I was in was set on fire
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:08 PM
Feb 2013

I'd run out to save my life. Shooting myself in the head wouldn't be my first or even my second choice.

Chances are he could have surrendered, even after the house started burning.

Just saying.

frylock

(34,825 posts)
25. no way was he getting out of that house alive..
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:02 PM
Feb 2013

either by his own hand or a hail of bullets. don't take that as an endorsement of dorner, because it's not.

joshcryer

(62,276 posts)
27. And he knew that, which is why he chose to be in power.
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:05 PM
Feb 2013

There is a remote chance that had he ran out and a hail of bullets hit him he could've still survived (highly unlikely, but beyond his control). So he did the last thing he could do within his control.

kenny blankenship

(15,689 posts)
48. Only if the scene commander draws back and lays siege
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 02:44 PM
Feb 2013

the voices on the tape are red hot for killing. It doesn't get hotter than that.

A siege would impose a cooling off period. Dorner still probably shoots himself, but I can think of ways to wear him down. It would be better to try to bring him in than not to try at all.

 

NYC_SKP

(68,644 posts)
4. Well, that and the 1,200 degree heat, or fear of dying by fire.
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 08:51 PM
Feb 2013

Police lobbed "burners" in there.

Not tear gas, not flash-bangs.

Burners.

Investigate.

Evergreen Emerald

(13,069 posts)
12. Seriously?
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:03 PM
Feb 2013

He refused to surrender, was shooting, killing, kidnapping, robbing, carjacking innocent people...investigate what? They would have been justified dropping a bomb on him. He was in a shoot out.


Just like mcveigh, just like 911, he had excuses for his rampage.....and we should give him as much crediance as we did them.

 

Light House

(413 posts)
20. Your wrong.
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:24 PM
Feb 2013

Burners is the slang term for that particular type of tear gas cannister, the slang comes from the fact that that CS gas causes severe burning of the mucous membrane, the eyes, the nose and any open wound, not because it will light a fire, although with that particular cannister, there is that danger.

frylock

(34,825 posts)
28. the slang comes from the proper name, which is PYROTECHNIC gas grenade..
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:06 PM
Feb 2013

as has been stated already in this thread, there are two types of gas canisters. these types are known for the possibility of igniting interior areas. the cops knew exactly what they were doing. now whether you believe the actions of the police were justified or not is another discussion, but let's get real here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101799335

from DevonRex's link below:

"The burner" was shorthand for a grenade-like canister containing a more powerful type of tear gas than had been used earlier. Police use the nickname because of the intense heat the device gives off, which often causes a fire.

 

Light House

(413 posts)
41. The term burner is also used because of the intense burning sensation it causes.
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 11:39 AM
Feb 2013

I have experience in this field and I well know what the slang term is.

 

Light House

(413 posts)
43. Yes I do know that
Sat Feb 16, 2013, 01:10 PM
Feb 2013

and I acknowledged that in this post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022382782#post20

As far as it being the desired outcome, I disagree with that statement and I choose to believe the Sheriff that the intent wasn't to start a fire, but it was to try to force Dorner out of the cabin, the fire was an unfortunate accident which the Sheriff admitted to.

DevonRex

(22,541 posts)
21. Ordinary teargas had been used earlier. LA Times:
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:25 PM
Feb 2013
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dorner-fire-20130215,0,5831477.story
"The burner" was shorthand for a grenade-like canister containing a more powerful type of tear gas than had been used earlier"
 

Light House

(413 posts)
23. He could have surrendered any time during the week he was on the run.
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:28 PM
Feb 2013

He could have called a lawyer, the media, trusted friends to escort him to any police station of his choosing, didn't have to be an LAPD station, and surrendered to police in front of his witness's, instead, he opted to continue his murderous spree and the outcome is history.

 

jberryhill

(62,444 posts)
32. Oh, I know that
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:42 PM
Feb 2013

I'm just trying to figure out the next objection from the extrajudicial killing brigade.

I had anticipated this one of the form "He had to shoot himself because the police would have shot him" because it is as fundamental flawed as it was predictable.

Cha

(297,304 posts)
24. He did to himself what he did to those four
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 09:31 PM
Feb 2013

other people he killed. He had plenty of chances to surrender before he got himself cornered in the cabin. He had more of a chance than he gave Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence. Fucking coward.

Dorner's last victim was Jeremiah MacKay

Sheriff John McMahon said that MacKay, 35, was pronounced deceased at the hospital. According to McMahon, MacKay was a member of the sheriff's department for 15 years and that he was married and a father to two children -- a 7-year-old girl and a 4-month-old son.

MacKay was presently assigned to the Yucaipa station but was also a detective at the Big Bear station.


Meanwhile, Riverside police held a funeral for the officer killed in last week's gun battle. CBS San Diego affiliate KFMB reports Michael Crain, a 34-year-old father of two, was allegedly shot by Dorner when the fugitive ambushed him and another officer. The second officer was wounded
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57569237/deputy-slain-in-ex-cop-shootout-has-been-idd/

Mackay interviewed last Saturday..

MacKay was interviewed by The Associated Press last Saturday while helping search for Dorner. “Everyone is here for the safety of everyone,” MacKay said, “for the safety of each other, for the safety of you.”
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/02/13/authorities-in-san-bernardino-say-manhunt-for-dorner-is-now-over/


robinlynne

(15,481 posts)
26. There's only one thing. If you watch the videos, you never hear that single gun shot
Fri Feb 15, 2013, 10:05 PM
Feb 2013

in any of them. It is possible that it is too quiet to hear it because of the walls and distance. but you hear so many gun shots, and never one lone gunshot.

the scenario does make sense though.

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