<p>Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies ended a shootout with a barricaded murder suspect by tossing burning road flares into his desert hide-out, sparking a blaze last year that contributed to his death.</p>
<p>Sheriff Lee Baca said the tactic of setting fire to a shed to drive the suspect out was "unorthodox." But the action was justified, Baca said, because the man was "using deadly assault weapons against us."</p>