Fugitive ex-cop sent CNN package

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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The FBI said Friday fugitive triple-slaying suspect Christopher Dorner sent a package sent to CNN that included a gold coin with bullet holes in it.

Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, confirmed to the Los Angeles Times the agency had learned of the package.

The coin in the package sent by the ex-Los Angeles police officer was from the LAPD and was engraved with the name of former Chief William Bratton, the Times said. The coin came wrapped in duct tape with a Post-It note and a DVD and was labeled "Thanks but no thanks to Will Bratton," said Anderson Cooper, the CNN newsman who was the recipient of the package.

Cooper said his office had received the package Feb. 1 but he didn't learn of it until Thursday.

Bratton described the bullet-riddled coin as "a challenge coin" he gave to officers who enlisted in the military and were heading overseas "as a token of respect and good luck." Bratton said he did not remember Dorner or "the specific set of circumstances for which I fired him."

"I could understand his grievance directed toward me in my capacity as chief of police," Bratton told CNN. "But a lot of police officers get discharged, and none of them resort to the actions that this young man has taken."

The Post-It note stated, in part: "I never lied! Here is my vindication. Evans kicked the suspect."

The Times said that appeared to reference the incident that led to Dorner's dismissal from the force. Dorner contended he saw his law enforcement partner, Teresa Evans, kick a mentally ill man who was handcuffed.

A disciplinary board concluded Dorner was lying and fired him in 2008, the newspaper said.

Authorities in California and Nevada were hunting for Dorner, suspected of fatally shooting a couple in Orange County and a police officer in Riverside County. Two other officers were wounded in the second incident.