By snoadmin
Dozens of students gathered around the University Student Union’s ground-floor big screen television to watch a suspect believed to be fugitive ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner barricade himself into a cabin, a last ditch effort to escape from the police closing on the location.
The Los Angeles Times reports that shortly after canisters of tear gas were fired into the cabin near Big Bear, a single gunshot was heard from inside. Soon after, it burst into flames.
Authorities later found a body inside the cabin, according to the LA Times.
Officers responding to a reported home invasion near Big Bear and car theft Tuesday afternoon exchanged gunfire with a man matching Dorner’s description. The exchange left one officer dead and another wounded.
The suspect crashed the vehicle he stole, fleeing then on foot to the cabin where authorities found the body.
Students pulled up extra chairs and stood in a normally empty hall to watch the story unfold. Alana Johnson, a program assistant in the USU, said there usually weren’t so many students crowded around the television.
“There’s never students standing,” she said. “I saw the crowd and wondered if it was Dorner.”
Johnson said she was holding off on her lunch break to watch the breaking news.
Jonathon Cancino, a junior business economics major, agreed, saying he had never seen the viewing area so full. He said he was ditching his usual afternoon routine watching “King of Queens” to watch the barricaded suspect.
“[Dorner’s] been running, and they hadn’t caught him,” he said. “Usually, they catch people like this sooner.”
Junior biomedical engineering major Kyle Jones said he postponed studying to watch the event. He said for the time being, the news was more important.
“I’ve heard about the murders, but I didn’t know the details,” he said. “People are scared. They want justice for this guy who deserves it.”
Dorner, the alleged murderer of former Long Beach State basketball player Monica Quan, her fiancé and two police officers, has garnered nationwide media attention since multiple agencies declared a statewide manhunt for him on Thursday.
“It’s Southern California,” Johnson said, “and when something is big like this, the person becomes a celebrity.”
News Editor Angela Ratzlaff and Assistant City Editor Shane Newell contributed to this report.
