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Police shoot, kill Discovery hostage taker
SILVER SPRING, Md., -- Suburban Washington police shot and killed a self-described population control protester who took three people hostage at the Discovery Channel's headquarters.
Montgomery County Police Chief J.T. Manger told reporters all the hostages -- all men -- were rescued unharmed.
"At one point the suspect pulled out the handgun and pointed it at one of the hostages," Manger said, adding it was unclear whether he actually fired the weapon. "At that point our tactical units moved in. They shot suspect. The suspect is deceased."
The suspect, identified as James J. Lee, had protested previously at the building in Silver Spring, Md.
Manger said the suspect came into the building with two boxes and two backpacks that may have contained explosive devices. He had canisters around his neck, one of which made a popping noise and produced smoke.
As the situation began to unfold shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, authorities told people working in the building to get to offices that could be locked. Most of the 1,900 people working at the facility were safely evacuated, including children in a daycare center, The Washington Post said.
"I was actually out where the gunman was, 40 minutes before this all went down, talking to my sister," Annie Frank, 26, a Web content publisher at Discovery, told The Baltimore Sun. "I went back up to floor five, my cubicle. I look out the window and there's all these cops.
"We didn't really grasp what was going on. … We thought someone was coming in with a toy gun, protesting or something. And then we realized it wasn't being contained."
The Post reported a Web site registered to a James Lee, savetheplanetprotest.com, lists 11 demands for the Discovery Channel, demanding the broadcaster show a commitment to the planet and stop airing programs that encourage "the birth of more parasitic human infants."
"In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed," the manifesto says. "All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it."
SILVER SPRING, Md., -- Suburban Washington police shot and killed a self-described population control protester who took three people hostage at the Discovery Channel's headquarters.
Montgomery County Police Chief J.T. Manger told reporters all the hostages -- all men -- were rescued unharmed.
"At one point the suspect pulled out the handgun and pointed it at one of the hostages," Manger said, adding it was unclear whether he actually fired the weapon. "At that point our tactical units moved in. They shot suspect. The suspect is deceased."
The suspect, identified as James J. Lee, had protested previously at the building in Silver Spring, Md.
Manger said the suspect came into the building with two boxes and two backpacks that may have contained explosive devices. He had canisters around his neck, one of which made a popping noise and produced smoke.
As the situation began to unfold shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, authorities told people working in the building to get to offices that could be locked. Most of the 1,900 people working at the facility were safely evacuated, including children in a daycare center, The Washington Post said.
"I was actually out where the gunman was, 40 minutes before this all went down, talking to my sister," Annie Frank, 26, a Web content publisher at Discovery, told The Baltimore Sun. "I went back up to floor five, my cubicle. I look out the window and there's all these cops.
"We didn't really grasp what was going on. … We thought someone was coming in with a toy gun, protesting or something. And then we realized it wasn't being contained."
The Post reported a Web site registered to a James Lee, savetheplanetprotest.com, lists 11 demands for the Discovery Channel, demanding the broadcaster show a commitment to the planet and stop airing programs that encourage "the birth of more parasitic human infants."
"In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed," the manifesto says. "All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it."