Christopher Dorner
A massive manhunt is under way for Christopher Dorner, a former member of both the Los Angeles Police Department and the U.S. Navy Reserve who is reportedly on the run in California, where he allegedly shot and killed two civilians and a police officer. Los Angeles Police Department

After a shootout and fire apparently ended the hunt for Christopher Dorner on Tuesday night, it was not clear if he was dead or if his body had been found.

Several sources told the Los Angeles Times and many other news organizations that a body was located in the rubble of a cabin in Big Bear, Calif. But LAPD officials said the cabin was still too hot to search and no body has been found.

As authorities moved in earlier on Tuesday, they heard a single gunshot.

Police had broken down windows, fired tear gas into the cabin and blasted over a loudspeaker, urging Dorner to surrender, a law enforcement source told the Times. When they got no response, police used a vehicle to rip down the walls of the cabin "one by one, like peeling an onion," a law enforcement official said.

By the time they got to the last wall, authorities heard a single gunshot, the source said. Then flames began to spread through the structure, and gunshots, probably set off by the fire, were heard.

It is unclear if Dorner committed suicide. The possible end of the manhunt comes after a week of violence in which four individuals, two of them police officers, were killed and four more were wounded.

Police believe Dorner had used the cabin near Big Bear as a hideout during the weeklong manhunt. Earlier in the day, Dorner broke into a home and stole a truck, leading police on a violent chase back to the cabin. From there, police and Dorner engaged in a shootout that left one officer dead and another wounded.