SILVER SPRING – Police shot a gunman who had taken three people hostage at Discovery Channel’s headquarters yesterday, ending a tense four-hour stand-off near Washington.
The hostages were safe. The gunman, who apparently objected to the TV channel’s environmental coverage, died, NBC television network said, quoting law enforcement sources.
“The suspect was shot by police officers. A device appeared to go off, we haven’t confirmed that,” Tom Manger, Montgomery County police chief, said.
Police earlier said the man, named by a US law enforcement official as James Lee, appeared to be wearing metallic canister devices that might have been explosives.
Police had monitored the gunman on the building’s closed-circuit security system and had negotiated with him by telephone.
A man called James Lee of San Diego was arrested in February 2008 after throwing money into the air in a protest outside the Discovery building, the Montgomery County Gazettereported that year.
A website registered under the name of James Lee contained demands that Discovery air programming urging people to stop having babies, which he says is leading to the overpopulation of the planet.
“Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is,” says the site, http://savetheplanetprotest.com.
“Saving the planet means saving what’s left of the non-human wildlife by decreasing the human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies!” it says.
Police sealed off the area around the building and Swat teams were deployed at the scene shortly after the suspect entered the building carrying a handgun at about 1 pm.
The building was evacuated and children were removed from a day-care centre.
Nearly 1,900 employees work in the building, in a busy shopping and commuter hub just north of the US capital.
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. – (Reuters)