News – POLICE shot dead a gunman and freed three people he had taken hostage on today in a dramatic four-hour standoff at the Discovery Channel headquarters outside Washington.
“Our tactical units moved in” when the suspect pointed a handgun at one of the hostages, Montgomery County police Chief J Thomas Manger said.
“They shot the suspect. The suspect is deceased,” he said.
Police had feared for the lives of the hostages after more than two hours of telephone talks with the gunman, who was exhibiting “a wide range of emotions during our negotiations”, Chief Manger said.
The gunman, an Asian male, had “what we believe to be explosive devices strapped to his front and back,” Chief Manger said, adding police heard a popping sound and the device “appeared to go off”.
“There are other suspected devices in the building that have not been rendered safe,” he added, saying the building was being swept by police.
Local news reports, citing law enforcement sources, identified the gunman as James Jay Lee, a man with a history of protest against the Discovery Channel, known for its wildlife documentaries as well as survivalist and military programs.
Lee had gone so far as to post a list of demands including that the cable station “broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet”.
In a rambling, profanity-laden manifesto posted on Lee’s Savetheplanetprotest.com, he insisted Discovery “stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants”, cease promoting war and weapons of mass destruction through its technology programming, and promote an end to all immigration.
Chief Manger acknowledged the gunman “had some history with the folks at Discovery Channel and I believe in fact that he was arrested here a couple years ago”. News
Be the first to comment