Christopher Dorner -- Alleged Cop Killer -- Shops for Scuba Gear 2 Days Before Murders
Surveillance video from a Sport Chalet store in Torrance shows alleged cop killer Christopher Dorner buying scuba equipment two days before he began his murder spree, according to a report posted late Monday on the TMZ website.
The footage shows Dorner on Feb. 1 carrying two small, yellow scuba tanks as he walks into the scuba section.
TMZ reported that sources said Dorner got the tanks refilled with oxygen.
Later in the video, Dorner is shown leaving the department with the tanks, along with another large, black scuba tank.
On the video, he appears to be having a friendly conversation with the cashier, occasionally laughing, as he stands at the counter.
He paid cash for the equipment and left the store.
The time posts on the tape shows that Dorner arrived at the store - at 21305 Hawthorne Blvd. - at 9:21 p.m. and left at 9:38 p.m., just as the store was closing.
The bodies of Dorner's first two victims - Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach Monica Quan and her fiance, USC public safety officer Keith Lawrence - were found in Irvine at 9 p.m. Feb. 3, just 48 hours after the trip to Sport Chalet.
Once the manhunt began, Dorner also was believed to have attempted to steal a boat in San Diego on Feb. 6. The boat's propeller became caught in a rope, thwarting the effort.
TMZ reported that U.S. Marshals went to Sport Chalet on Sunday and got a copy of the surveillance video.
Law enforcement sources have confirmed to TMZ, according to the report, that the man in the video is Dorner, a former member of an undersea warfare unit in the U.S. Navy.
Dorner remains on the run, with his last suspected whereabouts in the Big Bear ski resort 80 miles east of Los Angeles.
A manager at the Sport Chalet declined to comment on the video, directing calls to a corporate spokesman who could not be reached.
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