Fugitive ex-policeman targeted Los Angeles police chief's father

(Reuters) - A former Los Angeles police officer who eluded authorities for days after a grudge-driven killing spree last year had targeted the city police chief's father, police said on Thursday. Christopher Dorner, the 33-year-old former Los Angeles Police Department officer who took his own life after killing four people in a vendetta against the police force, targeted George Beck, the father of Police Chief Charlie Beck, LAPD spokeswoman Officer Sally Madera said. The news was first reported by local broadcaster NBC4, which published an interview with Charlie Beck on Thursday. "With my dad he knew the layout of the house in general. He knew about my dad's dog. He had made plans to dispatch the dog, to kill the dog," Beck said in the interview with the station. "The pit in your stomach just falls out because, what if that had happened?" he added. Dorner led police on a days-long manhunt last year after police found a manifesto he posted on Facebook, where he blamed a retired police captain for his 2008 dismissal from the force and vowed revenge. During his spree, Dorner killed the captain's daughter, her fiancée, and two additional officers. The search ended in a firefight with police on Feb. 12, 2013, in the mountain community of Big Bear, when Dorner shot himself in the head as the cabin he was barricaded in burned down. Earlier this year, police officials said eight officers broke department policy when they opened fire on two women during the manhunt after mistaking their truck for one driven by the rogue ex-cop. One woman was shot twice in the back and her adult daughter was wounded by flying debris. Last year, the women received a $4.2 million settlement from the city. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Edmund Klamann)