Police fired over 100 bullets at two Latina women mistaken for Christopher Dorner last week during their  newspaper delivery route, according to their attorney, Glen Jonas. 

The shooting occurred in a neighborhood in Torrance, California, where an LAPD patrol unit was stationed to guard the home of a high-ranking LAPD officer named as a target in Dorner’s online manifesto. Margie Carranza, 47, and her mother, Emma Hernandez, 71, were on their paper route in a pick-up truck that police say resembled Dorner’s.

Both were taken to the hospital where Carranza was treated for wounds to her hand from shattered glass and her elderly mother was taken to the ICU for two gunshot wounds to the back.

Jonas told NBC Los Angeles that the women’s pick up truck was riddled with 102 bullet holes plus several more that pierced through their clothing. “I don’t understand how they survived. It’s a miracle,” said Jonas.

Though the women survived, Jonas says, “They’re grappling with a lot of issues, the fact that they were almost killed by police.”

LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck apologized to the women, calling the incident “a tragic misinterpretation” by police under “incredible tension” given the manhunt for Dorner that was underway.

Jonas was understanding but pointed out, “The problem is there’s nothing there that matches in the description. Not the color of the truck, the gender, the race, the height, the weight, nothing.”

The same night the women were nearly killed, police intentionally crashed into and shot at another pick-up truck in the same neighborhood. Once again the driver (a slender white man) and vehicle didn’t match Dorner’s description.

On top of that, none of the three people “mistaken” for Dorner received any warning from police, suggesting a “shoot to kill” mentality was at work here. Many have defended this by arguing that law enforcement was under extreme pressure because they were being targeted. My answer to that is, it doesn’t fucking matter! The law applies even when police are faced with a cop-killer end of story. More importantly, this behavior isn’t exclusive to the Dorner situation. Police in southern California have a lengthy history of “shoot first, ask questions later” type policing, which I wrote about here.