KMIR 6's Adrianna Weingold returned to the scene of Tuesday's shootout where she spoke with the man who says he was carjacked by Christopher Dorner just moments before the gunfire erupted.

 

Rick Heltebrake says Dorner put a gun to his head, and stole his truck. Only seconds later, the gun fight began.

 

"I saw some movement on the left side in the trees and I could see that it was someone with a gun," Rick Heltebrake said. 

 

He says the man was dressed in camouflage and had a sniper-like rifle and bullet proof vest.

 

"I was going fairly slow and as I approached it I could see that it was Mr.Dorner with his rifle level at my head," Heltebrake said. "So I stopped and put my truck in park and raised up my hands. He came towards the window of my drivers side, gun pointed at me and he said I don't want to hurt you just get out and start walking and take your dog."

 

Rick says it was only about 20 seconds after Dorner put a gun to his head and stole his truck that he hid behind a tree, that's when intense gunfire broke out between police and Dorner.

 

He says there was a volley of gunfire, about 15 to 20 shots. Rick called his friend, a San Bernardino County Sheriff to tell him it was Christopher Dorner with a gun.

 

"It was clearly him, everyone knows what he looks like, it's been out on the news and I knew it was him and he wanted my vehicle and I gave it to him," Heltebrake said.

 

Law enforcement also recognized the fugitive ex-cop, but when the suspect realized he'd been spotted, he opened fire.

 

"The suspect rolled his window down and when the second patrol truck pulled up with the two wardens inside that's when he engaged in the shooting with our wardens," Lieutenant Patrick Foy with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

 

Authorities say the suspect then fled into the forest on foot and barricaded himself inside a cabin. Then there was another exchange of gunfire. This time one San Bernardino Sheriff was killed and another wounded. 

 

"Clearly I wasn't on his agenda and unfortunately he ran into some people who were on his agenda down the road and that's the gunshot, gunfire that I heard," Heltebrake said. "He was able to take out another law enforcement officer on his way to his eventual end."

 

Investigators say a charred human body was found in the rubble of the burned cabin where Dorner was thought to be barricaded. They still haven't said if the body is that of Christopher Dorner, but Heltebrake is positive the man who carjacked him at gunpoint was Dorner. The same man who fired at police before fleeing to the cabin.

 

--Adrianna Weingold

aweingold@kmir6.com