Thaindian News

Sep 1 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The suspect who has taken an unconfirmed number of hostages at the Discovery Channel Building in Silver Springs, Maryland has been confirmed to be James Jay Lee, who was arrested in 2008 for Disorderly Conduct, because of a demonstration which was held in front of the building during that time.

Lee was said to have thrown rolls of money into the air, and a battle for the cash ensued. Lee had paid thousands of dollars to homeless people to join in his “one man protest”. Lee represented himself against the advice of the judge in the case, and was released from jail in May of that year.

Lee said that he had read a book, ‘Ishmael’ by Daniel Quinn about a gorilla who tells a man what it is like to live in captivity where mankind has destroyed the planet, and Lee said he felt “an awakening.” When he saw former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, he realized he was not doing enough. His Myspace page links to what is being reported to be his manifesto.http://savetheplanetprotest.com/ The book is mentioned on the manifesto, which gives some insight as to how grave the situation is, and how close to the edge of sanity the suspect may be dancing.

Lee’s Myspace page lists his favorite books as ‘Ishmael’, ‘My Ishmael’, and ‘The Story of B’. His heroes are listed as ‘Daniel Quinn’ and ‘James T Kirk’, who is not a real person, but is the character of the Captain on the original ‘Star Trek’. Ironically, Lee’s favorite television shows include ‘The Discovery Channel’.

There are said to be a “handful” of hostages in the lobby with the suspect at this time, as confirmed by police. So far there are not believed to be any injuries, and police are negotiating with Lee. The area around the building and nearby buildings has been evacuated, although there are still employees hiding in the Discovery Channel Building. Lee appears to be wearing a bomb which consists of two pipe bombs. He was holding something which looked like a “stapler with a red blinking light on top.” Police are calling this object a “dead man’s switch” which would set off the bomb in the case of Lee’s death.