UPDATE 9:30 p.m. ET: A single gunshot was reportedly heard from inside the cabin inside which fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner had barricaded himself. The cabin caught fire and burned out of control. Dorner is believed to be dead.

* * * PREVIOUSLY (5:04 p.m. ET) * * *

Doug Sanders of the San Bernardino Sun reports:

Law enforcement are reportedly exchanging gunfire with a suspect in the Big Bear Lake area this afternoon following reports that fugitive Christopher Dorner may have stolen a truck in the area.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Marshals Service deputies and FBI agents began rushing to the Big Bear Valley area after searching a cabin in the Arrowbear area.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m., police scanner traffic indicated that two officers had been shot in the gun battle. Media personnel in the area have reported hearing numerous shots fired in the area.
The law enforcement officers are part of the team searching for Christopher Jordan Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer who has been charged with the murder of Riverside police officer Michael Crain and is suspected of killing an Irvine couple.

UPDATE: The latest from CNN:

Two sheriff’s deputies have been wounded in a shootout with a suspect believed to be renegade ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, a high-ranking law official with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.
The source says the suspect, believed to be Dorner, shot the deputies as police responded to a report of a home invasion and a carjacking in the Big Bear area of southern California.
After police got a description of the vehicle, police set up a road block, and Dorner approached the officers, the source says. Dorner then opened fire, wounding the two sheriff’s deputies, according to the source.
The official said Dorner was pinned down.

UPDATE II: The Los Angeles Times reports:

Christopher Dorner was engaged in a shootout with federal authorities in the Big Bear area Tuesday, a law enforcement source told The Times.
The shooting occurred after Dorner burglarized a home, tied up a couple and stole their car, the source said.
It was not immediately clear whether Dorner was in custody.
A second source said there was an active crime scene but did not have details.
Law enforcement officials were swarming the area.

More blog reaction at Memeorandum.

UPDATE III: Additional details from the L.A. Times blog: Dorner is now reportedly barricaded inside a cabin after a shootout with cops in which “hundreds of rounds” were fired.

UPDATE IV: More details on how Dorner’s gun battle with police transpired:

Fugitive Christopher Dorner suddenly resurfaced Tuesday afternoon, engaging in a vehicle-to-vehicle gun battle with a California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer before holing up in a Big Bear-area cabin as dozens of officers homed in. . . .
Dorner was allegedly spotted by a state Fish and Wildlife offices in a white pickup truck. Dorner fired, and the officer returned fire. The officer was unharmed, but his truck was riddled with bullets.
Dorner crashed the truck and exchanged gunfire with the officers as he fled into a vacation cabin, where he was quickly surrounded by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies, the source said.
The source said one deputy was wounded as Dorner fired out of the cabin and a second was injured when Dorner exited the back of the cabin, deployed a smoke grenade and opened fire again in an apparent attempt to flee. Dorner was driven back inside the cabin, the source said.

One deputy was reportedly killed and another wounded in the shootout.

UPDATE V: Did I ever mention I hate long standoffs?

C’mon, Dorner, get it over with, so reporters can write, “died in a fusilade of gunfire.” We don’t get to use “fusilade” every day, y’know.

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) February 13, 2013

You got your 15 minutes of fame already. We’re getting bored now.

UPDATE VI: USA Today confirms the deputy’s death:

One sheriff’s deputy died and another was wounded Tuesday afternoon during dramatic gunfight with the man authorities believe to be Christopher Dorner, the fugitive former Los Angeles cop wanted in three murders and a revenge shooting rampage across Southern California.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department confirmed earlier reports that a deputy was killed after authorities surrounded a cabin in the Big Bear ski resort area.The deputy, who has not been identified, died of his wounds at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Redlands.
It was unknown whether Dorner, a Navy veteran who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department, had been hit by gunfire.

There is now smoke pouring out of the cabin where Dorner is holed up. It is not known whether Dorner has been killed.

 

We now have the first clear suggestion of a motive:

NEWTOWN, Conn. –  The gunman who slaughtered 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school may have snapped  because his mother was planning to commit him to a psychiatric facility . . .
[The creepy little weirdo], targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown after killing  his mother early Friday because he believed she loved the school “more than she  loved him,” said Joshua Flashman, 25 . . .
“From what I’ve been told, [the creepy little weirdo] was aware of her petitioning the court for  conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed,” Flashman told  FoxNews.com. “[The creepy little weirdo] was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just  wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry. I  think this could have been it, what set him off.”
A senior law enforcement official involved in the investigation confirmed  that [the creepy little weirdo’s] anger at his mother over plans for “his future mental health treatment” is being looked at as a possible motive for the deadly shooting.

News organizations keep trying to bestow post-massacre fame on the creepy little weirdo. I’ve decided to stop cooperating with that agenda.