Map by Sarah Bennett using Google Maps images.
The white pickup truck driven by Christopher Dorner when he exchanged fire with Sheriff’s and Fish and Wildlife officers Tuesday afternoon was carjacked from the ranger of Camp Tahquitz, a camp owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America’s Long Beach Area Council.
Ranger Rick Heltebrake–who lives alone at the property full time–was driving through the 640-acre Boy Scout property in the Angelus Oaks area of the San Bernardino mountains just after noon when he says Dorner emerged from the woods, pointed a rifle at him and told him to “get out and start walking.”
“I was going down a road that bisects our property to do a perimeter check…when a guy jumped out in front of me,” Heltebrake told John and Ken on KFI talk radio Tuesday night, “[He] said, ‘I don’t want to hurt you. Just get out and start walking. Take your dog and start walking.’ And that’s what I did.”
Heltebrake also told John and Ken that he knew immediately that the perpetrator was Dorner and so as soon as his truck had been driven out of sight, he called a Sheriff deputy that he knew lived on the mountain and reported what happened. The phone call, which led authorities to a description of the vehicle Dorner was driving, may make Heltebrake eliglible for the $1 million reward.
After Dorner stole the white Dodge pickup truck from Heltebrake, he apparently drove it down Highway 38 where he was recognized by a California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer traveling the opposite direction. According to a CDFW press release, the officer chased the car and a shooting occured, but details on the incident are not entirely clear. The Press-Telegram reports that the CDFW vehicle was shot numerous times and the suspect fled on foot while CNN is reporting that the “CDFW officer in one truck” was actually three wardens in two trucks and that Dorner fired the first shot with the wardens returning fire as he spend away in the vehicle.
Either way, by 1PM, he had ditched the truck somewhere in the vicinity of Glass Road and 7 Oaks Road near Camp Tahquitz (where authorities had set up their command post) and fled on foot to the cabin on 7 Oaks Road that was the scene of a shootout that killed one San Bernardino County Sheriff and wounded another. The cabin was later burned down, supposedly with Dorner inside of it, however as of late Tuesday night, officials are staying quiet as to whether or not Dorner is dead.
“He had on camoflauge clothing and some other stuff I was asked not to talk about yet,” Heltebrake said of what Dorner was carrying with him at the time of the carjacking. “He was very calm. There was no panic.”
No word yet on whether Heltebrake will be getting his truck back, but he is anticipating having campers up there this weekend for the first time since the Dorner manhunt began.
“Hopefully they don’t cancel and we can all enjoy the snow,” he said.
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