Free Republic

<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>

Deputy's killer filed complaints against him in '94 By Greg Botonis Staff Writer PALMDALE -- Nine years before shooting Deputy Steve Sorensen to death outside his desert trailer, Donald Charles Kueck tried to get the deputy criminally prosecuted for assault, his family said. Kueck, who died in a fiery gunbattle six days after Sorensen's Aug. 2 slaying, filed complaints in 1994 with the Sheriff's Department and other agencies alleging that Sorensen, while off duty, had pointed a gun at him during a traffic dispute on a two-lane desert road. "He (Donald) didn't hate cops but he didn't trust them, and...

ATTENTION Big doins right now on high desert ATAC. They're surrounding a house in the vicinity of 200 ST E and AVE R. "be advised we've got no cover and are sitting ducks if he's scoping us.." "we need more units!" They're surprising the location. Sounds like they might think they got him, getting SB involved. Air ship on scene.

<p>LOS ANGELES — The high-desert house where a man suspected of killing a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was holed up erupted in flames Friday night after authorities attempted to flush him out with tear gas and a battering ram.</p>