LAPD: No Body Found Yet From Burned Cabin In California

Authorities are now saying that they have not yet recovered a body from a burned cabin in Big Bear, California, where a fugitive ex-cop was believed to be holed up earlier on Tuesday.

Christopher Dorner has been on the run since they say he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing. He was believed to be inside a cabin in Big Bear, California, on Tuesday. The cabin went up in flames Tuesday afternoon.

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press earlier a charred body had been found in the burned cabin. However, authorities confirmed Tuesday night that no body has been found yet.

Despite earlier media reports, LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith announced at a Tuesday evening press conference that the cabin was too hot for anybody to make entry, and that there has been no body located inside the cabin, according to CBS News.

The spokesman added that the cabin has yet been searched because the fire is still too hot for anyone to go in there. "No body has yet been found in there," he said, and also added that no body has been identified.

Smith also said that the LAPD will continue its high-profile protection detail of LAPD officers and their families identified as possible threats until there is confirmation that a body has been located and that it belongs to Dorner.

Authorities said earlier they believed the man in the cabin was Christopher Dorner. He has been on the run since they say he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing.

Police say Dorner killed four people, including a deputy on Tuesday.

A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that the man believed to be fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner never came out of a California mountain cabin engulfed in flames.

The person who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation said a single gunshot apparently fired inside the cabin was heard just before the fire broke out Tuesday.

Officials were waiting for the fire to burn out before approaching the ruins to search for a body.

Authorities say a gunfight with a man believed to be a fugitive ex-LA cop began when state game wardens confronted him in the San Bernardino Mountains. U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller says the battle started at 12:42 p.m. Tuesday, which is about 20 minutes after a vehicle was reported stolen nearby.

Miller says that after the initial exchange of gunfire with the wardens, there was a second exchange with sheriff's deputies, two of whom were wounded and were transported to the hospital.

Authorities have confirmed that one deputy has died in the hospital from his injuries. The other deputy is undergoing surgery and is expected to survive.

The cabin where a former police officer is believed to be holed up then went up in flames Tuesday afternoon. TV footage from the scene shows smoke pouring from the cabin.

Police surrounded the cabin in the snow-covered woods of Big Bear, a resort town about 80 miles east of Los Angeles where authorities have focused their hunt for Christopher Dorner since they said he had launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing.

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