Gun linked to Christopher Dorner found at suspected criminal's Airbnb after armed robbery in Beverly Hills

Federal investigators are trying to find out how a pistol once registered to the notorious Christopher Dorner ended up in the possession of suspected criminal tourists from South America.

How did law enforcement find the gun?

Police found the gun while investigating an armed robbery outside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on August 7.

The suspects targeted a tourist wearing a $1 million Patek Philippe watch while sitting on the patio of the hotel restaurant with his wife and two daughters, according to the U.S. Department of Justice affidavit.

The two suspects held the man at gunpoint while they removed the watch from his wrist. A getaway driver, later identified as 21-year-old Jamer Mauricio Sepulveda Salazar of Colombia, then drove them out of town in a nearby Toyota Corolla.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jena MacCabe, Beverly Hills police learned that after the robbery, the gang planned to head toward the Arizona border.

Three days later, Blythe police officers arrested two of the suspects, 19-year-old Jesus Eduardo Padron Rojas of Venezuela and Sepulveda and another woman, on the I-10 freeway near the California-Arizona border. Sepulveda told investigators they were going to Miami to meet with one of the conspirators and get their share of the stolen watch.

The Chevrolet Equinox Sepulveda was directly linked to another armed robbery that took place in Beverly Hills on August 5. Investigators said surveillance cameras caught the Equinox driving around an Airbnb in Los Angeles.

The same day that Blythe police arrested the suspected gang, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica police searched an Airbnb where the two men had been staying and found a Glock 21 .45 pistol registered to Dorner.

MacCabe did not confirm that the gun linked to Dorner was used in the $1 million armed robbery. She added that surveillance camera footage from the Airbnb shows Padron holding the same handgun several days after the armed robberies. It was the only firearm found in the rental property.

Sepulveda was charged with obstruction of public commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act). Rojas was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery under the Hobbs Act.

“We suspect they were involved in other armed robberies outside the state,” MacCabe said.[Homeland Security] are working to obtain information from other police departments that have investigated the same gang of robbers and their co-conspirators”

The Justice Department is trying to determine how the gun came into Dorner's possession.

“We're still trying to figure it out,” MacCabe said. “We're trying to figure out how this gun from so long ago somehow ended up in her possession and connected to this brutal series of armed robberies.”

Who is Christopher Dorner?

Dorner was the disgraced LAPD officer who became the focus of the Southern California manhunt after posting a manifesto on Facebook outlining plans to murder the families of people he felt had wronged him.

Investigators linked Dorner to the murders of an Irvine couple and two police officers in 2013.

The extensive search kept everyone in Southern California busy, including law enforcement, especially after the then mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, 1 million dollar reward to obtain information that led to his arrest and conviction.

The extensive manhunt led investigators into the rugged San Bernardino National Forest after local residents spotted his truck in the ski town of Big Bear Lake. After making a break in the case, officers tracked Dorner to a mountain cabin, which eventually went up in flames after a fierce gun battle and standoff.

San Bernardino County officials found Dorner's remains in the charred cabin. The San Bernardino County Coroner's Office later confirmed the identity of the remains. through dental records.