Thaindian News

SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND (BNO NEWS) – Emergency response teams and SWAT on Wednesday responded to the Discovery Communications Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland after an armed man took three hostages and was subsequently killed by police and the hostages were safely removed.

Police officials said that three hostages were being held by an armed individual who has been identified as James Jay Lee, an environmental activist and longtime Discovery Channel protester who was previously arrested in 2008. The hostage situation began around 1:00 p.m. local time. Police said he was shot and all hostages were removed safely, and he said that he did not believe there were any hostage injuries.

It was believed that he had explosive devices attached to his chest and his back, devices that were described as small metal canisters, and there was a “popping” sound. There may be additional devices inside the building and police and SWAT teams are working to render those safe.

NBC News reported that Lee had died from his wounds, and had been shot to death by police. Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manager said that he was shot but said to reporters that he “did not know the suspect’s condition,” at the time of the press briefing. He also said that the investigative portion of the incident was just beginning and further updates will be given as they come.

Manager said that the device that the gunman had strapped to his body “appeared to go off,” but did not provide any further information. Officers shot the suspect at around 4:48 p.m. local time. Lee apparently fired inside the lobby and shouted “Nobody is going anywhere,” which may have prompted the police response.

A number of local buses and a school were placed on lock down during the hostage situation, including St. Michael School.

Most of the building’s 1,900 employees left safely even before the hostage situation could be resolved after a building-wide email was distributed warning not to return to the building. A child’s daycare center was also quickly evacuated as the hostage situation was unfolding, and they were taken to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant, many rolled out while still in their cribs.

It’s unclear if the three hostages were removed by the police or escaped on their own after the suspect was shot.

Lee had a long history of extreme environmental ideals and published a manifesto and his demands on a website he owned at www.savetheplanetprotest.com. He believed that saving the planet involved stopping human growth and claiming that humans are “the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture.”

He also demanded that Discovery Channel stop all programming that encourages the birth of human infants, saying that there should be programs that encourage “human sterilization and infertility”.