Hunt for rogue policeman armed with missiles

A POLICE search continued yesterday for a former officer accused of declaring war on his former colleagues in an internet manifesto and suspected of murdering three people.

Search teams from Los Angeles Police Department combed hillsides and homes around a ski area through the night and into yesterday for Christopher Dorner, 33, a former US naval officer thought to be heavily armed and intent on killing colleagues he blames for his dismissal from LAPD in 2008.

“We did not find any additional evidence,” San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said, adding that investigators were pressing ahead despite heavy snow.

“We’re going to continue searching until either we determine that he’s left the mountain or we find him,” Sheriff McMahon said. Snowfall forced authorities to ground helicopters used on Thursday to scour the area with infra-red cameras. But a team of more than 100 officers, some on snow-cat vehicles, kept up an intense ground search.

The search was focused on a wooded area near where Dorner’s van was found burning in the snow on Wednesday, and in nearby higher elevations dotted with abandoned cabins, Sheriff McMahon said.

Police have said they believe Dorner was carrying multiple weapons, including an assault-style rifle, and may have the ability to destroy a helicopter.

“Do not deploy airships or gunships. SA-7 Manpads will be waiting,” the message said, referring to Russian-made shoulder-launched missiles. “The violence of action will be high … I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform on or off-duty.”