Posted on 02/14/2013 9:00:38 AM PST by BenLurkin
PALMDALE (CBSLA.com) — The owner of the Big Bear-area vacation rental cabin that went up in flames in the Christopher Dorner standoff watched it happen live on television Tuesday afternoon.
Candy Martin of Palmdale didn’t want to speak on-camera, but her two children, Eric and Leah Funnel, told “Inside Edition” they couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw that their family’s cabin was the final act of the Dorner manhunt.
“We turned the TV on and saw the news…the Dorner guy had been caught. I heard he was still in the Big Bear area, (but) I thought he was long gone. And then they said ‘Seven Oaks Mountain Cabins’ and we were like…wow,” said Leah.
Eric said, “I got a text from my mom saying, ‘Dorner’s at the cabin. Firefight.’ Lo and behold… there’s our cabin. There’s no mistaking our cabin up there.”
The siblings said their mother, who owns seven cabins near the Seven Oaks community, called police to let them know there was no cable, Internet or phone service in the vacant rental for Dorner to use.
The Funnel’s said despite the ruins of the cabin, their hearts are with the families who lost loved ones.
“Whatever happened to our cabin is inconsequential compared to what they lost. So I’m grateful law enforcement did what they needed to do to get this guy so he’s not on the loose anymore,” said Eric
I heard a tape on radio yesterday, purported from the scene, that has a cop cursing, “BURN that MotherF****** DOWN”. Then a dispatcher stating in a calm, female voice, “We have fired seven burners, repeat, seven burners.”
Sheriff’s Acknowledge Using Fire-Starting Pyrotechnic Tear Gas Against Dorner
February 13, 2013 10:36 PM
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — San Bernardino authorities Wednesday acknowledged they set off fire-causing pyrotechnic tear gas in a battle with murder suspect Christopher Dorner — but insisted they didn’t burn down the cabin where they believed he was holed up on purpose.
“We did not intentionally burn down that cabin to get Mr. Dorner out,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon.
He said sheriff’s first used conventional tear gas but it didn’t have the desired effect.
The pyrotechnic tear gas (also called incendiary gas) is known to start fires.
Dave Bryan, CBS2 and KCAL9 political reporter, says the pyrotechnic tear gas is not used at demonstrations or to disperse crowds for that reason.
The fire effectively ended the blazing gun battle and violent standoff between sheriffs and Dorner.
Bryan spoke to retired FBI agent Steve Moore who said the fire-causing nature of pyrotechnic tear gas is why it is often not used.
He says it causes fires “routinely.” And he added, “I have never been on an operation where it was deployed. And I worked [alongside] SWAT full-time for five years.”
Moore believes it would have been “suicidal” to send a strike team into the cabin to try to get Dorner out. “Sending an assault team into that house would have been horrendously dangerous. From my understanding, he may have had an AR-15 an M4. You can engage people very effectively to 400 yards with that. And it is withering [gun]fire.”
In the end, Moore believes San Bernardino sheriffs didn’t have much choice but to use the less conventional tear gas. “They were in a life and death struggle. And you do what you have to to protect your men. And not just your men — the people who will die if you let that man getaway.”
think it was insured?
LOL!!!! Do you mean Rachel Corrie??
I am so totally confused. In listening to the news this morning and hearing a man and woman talking they made it sound like they were in the cabin and tied up, but Dormer said he wouldn't hurt them. They almost made it sound like they owned the cabin. I kept thinking how did they get away. Can someone clear this up for me?
“Rambro was the typical demented liberal.”
Well,,,, That’s why a “Show Trial” might have been fun to watch.
That was the first cabin Doner entered.
The second cabin is the one that was burnt down.
Rambro would have been acquitted by his fellow aggrieved liberal fruitcakes and cop-haters in a “show trial”.
But ... but ... he needed more time and more opportunities to kill some more people ... so he could then clear his name. And America is the land of opportunity and it was denied him. It was an injustice ... a denial of due process.
[Did I get it right???]
Just think how clear Rambro’s name would be if he had murdered 100 people!
He was spotted driving and after a brief encounter fled on foot to the second cabin.
“Moore believes it would have been “suicidal” to send a strike team into the cabin to try to get Dorner out. “Sending an assault team into that house would have been horrendously dangerous. From my understanding, he may have had an AR-15 an M4”
Not really suicidal, its done all the time all over the world and the USA. LAPD swat teams are great at it and the reason they use such force is because behind the door are bad people with AR-15’s and more.
More lies. I refuse to believe anything they say
Who knew something called "pyrotechnic tear gas" could actually cause a fire.
I hope that family wasn’t hoping to use that rental cabin as a source of income anytime soon...
They can sell tickets to lookie loos.
Assuming the cabin is insured, I would think the carrier will have a dandy case against the police department. Surely the municipality will end up paying to have it rebuilt.
A little off topic, okay, way off topic but, if MS Candy Martin ever took the surname of her children’s baby-daddy, then she would be called,,,wait for it,,,MS CANDY FUNNEL!,,,,That sounds a little gauche. I can appreciate her dilema!
“Rambro would have been acquitted by his fellow aggrieved liberal fruitcakes “
Nah! But his ultra-lib, obama-lovin’ views would have been exposed to all. Now those views will be hidden.
It should be insured by San Bernidino County.
Aargh! No trial!! That was one of the reasons I was so happy with the outcome. The mere thought of crazy California and a months-long freakshow media circus, replete with a hundred Geraldo wannabes and an idiotic jury pool that would free the blasted scumbag and turn him into a hip TMZ celebrity! Hardly need another lesson in how pathetically demented our justice system is, not to mention the country as a whole.
Still a shame about the cabin. That’s the only really sour note in all this. It apparently even had some historic value. Too bad the cops couldn’t drag him outside and then light him up. That would have been ideal.
The police burned it down, the Police can build it back, with tax payers money of course.
Or
Put the cops on trial for arson.
Can’t have it both ways.
I guess I am missing why it was better to set the cabin on fire than to simply wait for him to run out of food/water.
“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”
Once we accept that it is ok for the cops to become judge jury and exocutioner of a cop killer, how long before they start killing people for other crimes? More importantly, how long before they start killing people for aligning against the state?
If these cops were soldiers in Iraq, they’d be getting a court martial for murder.
When you say “municipality”,you mean taxpayers,right?
Oh, for crying out loud. Dorner had shot and killed a deputy while trying to bolt from that very cabin. And there was an ongoing firefight after that. He wasn't just in the cabin doing nothing.
I’m guessing they wanted to end it before it got dark. He might have tried to escape into the woods at night.
With audio of the cops screaming “Burn it down, bring in the Burners”, the homeowner’s insurance should have a case to recoup there loss from LAPD.
Poor lady
Well, there was no cable, no phone, & no Internet. So I guess he might have been playing Russian Roulette.
Too soon?
The lifespan of cop-killers on the run is historically very short. Who really expected a different outcome? It’s always been the case. Kind of an unwritten code. Nothing new, it’s gone on like this throughout the country’s history. I do not (at all!) see this as some kind of alarm-bell scenario akin to Ruby Ridge or Waco, which involved extremely disquieting federal actions.
Cops rendering Dormer extra-crispy doesn’t bother me one tiny, tiny bit. I’m thrilled the bastard is dead, and that there will be no idiotic trial. Nor would I have minded if it had been done by the hands of civilian vigilantes. In fact, that would have been even more satisfying.
Maybe he was playing Risk.
Or Clue.
I think it’s something like the “tear gas” used in Waco. BTW love your tag line.
No phone to call Jesse Jackson or Charlie Sheen?...To bad!
It’s a tear-jerker, ain’t it?
I was using “Rambro” in the 1980s in Houston, now it finally catches on.
The first cabin was located across the street from the police command post/media briefing center. Dorner was holed-up there since Thursday. It was vacant until the owners, a husband and wife, arrived to clean it up. Dorner captured them and tied them up, then stole their car to make a break for it.
During his escape, he was spotted by a pair of park rangers, but when he broke that car, he jacked a guy driving a pick-up. He let the guy and his dog go and was driving along a dirt road when a pair of fish and game wardens spotted him and gave chase. He got the truck stuck in a ditch and fled into the cabin that burned down.
A resident who lived 4 doors down from the first cabin, also located across the street from the command post/media briefing center said no one ever came to search their house, meaning that no one searched the cabin in which Dorner was holed-up.
So, he was hidden under the noses of the police the entire time and would have remained undiscovered except for the chance encounter with the husband and wife.
Any potential property buyers would find it difficult to ignore the memory of what was cooking there.
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