SILVER SPRING, Maryland—A man who railed against the
Discovery Channel’s environmental programming for years burst into the company’s headquarters with at least one explosive device strapped to his body on Wednesday and took three people hostage at gunpoint before police gunned him down.
The hostages—two Discovery Communications employees and a security guard—were unharmed.
The four-hour ordeal was the second hostage-taking drama to grab world attention in recent days, occurring a little over a week after eight Hong Kong tourists were killed on a hijacked bus in Manila following a botched police rescue operation. The Manila gunman was also killed.
In the Discovery Channel standoff, the police negotiated by phone throughout the afternoon with the gunman, an Asian-American, who was on the first floor, as the rest of the 1,900 employees and the children in the day-care center were leaving the building near the US capital Washington.
SWAT officers watching the hostage drama on a building security camera crept in, while police negotiated with the emotional gunman.
Police shot the gunman when he pointed his pistol at one of his hostages.
“A hostage moved, he pulled his gun, and a shot was taken,†Montgomery County police chief Tom Manger told reporters.
Acting alone
An explosive device on the gunman’s body detonated in a cloud of smoke when police shot him, Manger said. Police were trying to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks the gunman had carried into the building also contained explosives.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said authorities had identified James J. Lee as the likely gunman.
Police and firefighters on Wednesday night looked at a laptop screen that showed an image of a body lying face up, surrounded by blood. Authorities also sent in a robot to disarm the explosive on the gunman’s body.
Police said the man had fired his gun at least once. They believed the gunman was acting alone but were investigating all possibilities.
Area sealed off
Police sealed off the area around the building and SWAT teams deployed shortly after the gunman entered the building carrying a handgun at about 1 p.m. County and state police, FBI and Homeland Security agents joined the operation.
The hostage saga brought one of Washington’s largest and busiest suburbs to a standstill for hours.
Lee, a radical environmentalist, was convicted of disorderly conduct for a protest he organized outside the Discovery Channel’s offices in February 2008.
According to court records, he paid homeless people to carry signs and set off a scramble when he threw $20,000 into the air, calling it “just trash.â€
Lee served two weeks in jail after his arrest. He was also ordered to stay 150 meters (500 feet) away from Discovery headquarters as part of his probation, and to pay a small fine.
‘I have bombs’
NBC News reported that after its producers called Discovery’s general number, a man identifying himself as James J. Lee got on the phone and said he had a gun and several bombs.
“I have several bombs strapped to my body ready to go off. I have a device that if I drop it, if I drop it, it will … explode,†the man told NBC.
He said he built the bombs in about three weeks. “I did a lot of research. I had to experiment,†he said.
Police kept the gunman talking by telephone almost the whole time. “He went from being agitated to being calm,†Manger said.
The hostages just happened to have been in the lobby and were kept lying on the floor by the gunman, he said.
180 countries
More than an hour after the gunman was shot, streets and alleyways around the sprawling glass and silver Discovery building were clogged with dozens of police vehicles, bomb disposal trucks and canine units.
Pedestrians stared silently as sweating snipers unloaded their rifles and stripped out of bulletproof vests.
Discovery Communications says it reaches 1.5 billion subscribers in more than 180 countries with the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel and Planet Green networks.
Lee, who had his own Save The Planet protest site, admitted on a webpage attributed to him he had a gripe with the Discovery Channel, which is known for its wildlife documentaries as well as military and survivalist programs.
He had protested outside their offices in the past, and his list of demands included that the cable station “broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet.â€
Lee’s demands
Lee insisted that the Discovery Channel cease promoting war and weapons of mass destruction through its technology programming, and promote an end to all immigration.
In court and online, he faulted the Discovery Channel for shows as varied as “Future Weapons,†“It Takes a Thief†and “Planet Green.â€
A lengthy posting that could be seen on Wednesday on a website registered to Lee said Discovery and its affiliates should stop “encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants,†a possible reference to shows like “Kate Plus 8†and “19 Kids and Counting.â€
“Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed,†he said in one rant.
“Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn’t, then get the hell off the planet!â€
No more babies
Unchecked population growth was a theme attacked time and time again in Lee’s postings.
“Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the nonhuman Wildlife by decreasing the Human population,†he said. “That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies!â€
Discovery Channel spokesperson David Leavy said the station’s security teams were familiar with Lee but had not considered him a threat because his views were so outrageous.-Reports from Associated Press, New York Times News Service, Reuters and Agence France-Presse
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