LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Two women hurt during a manhunt for a gunman who staged a deadly revenge plot against Los Angeles police have reached a US$4.2 million (S$5.2 million) settlement, authorities said.
On February 7, as the hunt was on for former police officer Christopher Dorner in California, Ms Margie Carranza, 47, and her mother Emma Hernandez, 71, were delivering newspapers.
Police shot at their blue Toyota Tacoma, in what turned out to be a major mistake - the women had the same vehicle as the suspect.
Ms Hernandez was shot twice while Ms Carranza was wounded by broken glass shards.
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Glen Jonas, a lawyer for the women, said the settlement was reached to avoid a long and costly trial, and that the women would share the US$4.2 million.
"We hope that Margie and Emma will be able to move on with their lives," Ms Trutanich said.
Given the mother's age, it was preferable to avoid long legal proceedings, Mr Jonas said.
"You think she wants to wait five or 10 years for a 'maybe' or a 'could be'?" he asked.
"So $4.2 million means a lot more to her today than potentially $7 million."
Dorner, 33, had posted a chilling manifesto online in which he threatened to kill policemen and their families, and blamed the Los Angeles Police Department for unfairly firing him from the force several years earlier.
He killed four people as he led his former colleagues on a manhunt that ended in a mountain cabin.
When they had exhausted other means, SWAT officers used a tractor-type device to open up the windows and walls of the cabin, and inserted a pyrotechnic chemical in an attempt to force Dorner to surrender.
A blaze erupted, and his remains were later found amid the rubble.
Dorner was booted out of the LAPD after a police disciplinary board found him guilty of making false statements against his training officer, whom he had accused of cruel mistreatment of a disabled man.
In his online manifesto, he also lodged accusations of racism and abusive behavior against other officers in the LAPD.
