Ex-Cop Chris Dorner Confirmed Dead in Burned Cabin

The former Los Angeles police officer on a revenge killing spree, Christopher Dorner, has been confirmed dead following a last stand shootout with authorities from a barricaded cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains Tuesday, ABC News reported.

"The charred human remains located in the burned out cabin in Seven Oaks have been positively identified to be that of Christopher Dorner," the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner's Office announced in a statement, according to ABC News. "During the autopsy, positive identification was made through dental examination."

A wallet with a driver's license that had Dorner's name on it was found among the debris of the burned cabin, the Associated Press reported, citing an anonymous law enforcement official involved with the investigation as a source.

Dorner is suspected of shooting three police officers, killing one, and in the double homicide of a college basketball coach and her fiancé Feb. 3. Dorner taunted authorities through a 6,000-word revenge manifesto he posted to his Facebook page that explicitly threatened LAPD officers and their families with "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare."

Police also suspect Dorner in the shooting death of San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy Jeremiah MacKay, who was killed by the ex-cop in the shootout at the cabin. Another San Bernardino County Sherriff's officer was wounded in the crossfire at the cabin, and has had multiple surgeries, ABC News reported.

The final chase began Tuesday at 12:20 p.m. PST, according to USA Today, when a maid taken hostage by Dorner in a cabin was able to escape and called police to tip them off to his whereabouts. The woman told authorities Dorner had stolen her car - a purple Nissan - and taken flight.

The vehicle was eventually spotted by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office and state Fish and Wildlife wardens who became involved in a firefight with Dorner on the road. Dorner reportedly crashed the car, and then ran on foot to steal a white pickup truck on a close by road shortly after the shootout, officials said.

Another warden with the Fish and Wildlife department soon located Dorner on the road and the chase resumed, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lt. Patrick Foy said.

"Ultimately, the officer who was driving that vehicle stopped and pulled out his patrol rifle and engaged probably 15 to 20 shots as Dorner was driving away," said Foy.

Dorner then abandoned the truck, running on foot the cabin where he barricaded himself. Police never entered the structure, instead firing tear gas inside the building. Dorner was killed by a fire started by a tear gas canister, according to DailyNews.com.

With Dorner's death confirmed, the Los Angeles Police Department lifted protective details Friday to roughly 50 high-ranking officers and their families who feared reprisal, LAPD spokeswoman Rosario Herrera said, the DailyNews.com reported.

A former member of the Naval Reserves, 33-year-old Dorner was seemingly seeking vengeance for being fired from the department in 2008 for making false statements. In his manifesto, Dorner insinuates he was wrongfully terminated because of racist superiors, claiming virulent racism permeates the department even to this day, and that the father of one of his alleged victims, a former LAPD officer who represented him in his termination trial, bungled the case.

"Self preservation is no longer important to me. I do not fear death as I died long ago on 1/2/09," Dorner wrote in the online diatribe, likely referring to his firing, Fox News reported.

He continued: "Look your wives/husbands and surviving children directly in the face and tell them the truth as to why your children are dead," CNN reported.