Hostage Situation at Discovery Channel Headquarters Ends in Death
Wednesday afternoon, a gunman with homemade explosives strapped to himself entered the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland and threatened to kill three hostages. The gunman, James J. Lee, cited the channel's shows as the reasons for his threats. He said that "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" promoted population growth, and that the environmental shows were little more than product advertisements. He had previously been issued a restraining order from the Discovery Channel building as part of his probation for a protest two years ago, but it expired two weeks ago.
The majority of the 1900 employees were able to escape the building unharmed and without making contact with Lee. He was able to grab a security guard and two male employees, however, and held them hostage for around four hours. SWAT team negotiators were able to watch the situation from security cameras, and were speaking with Lee as he became more agitated. Around the same time the hostages were about to try and escape, the SWAT team heard a loud noise that was either a gun or an explosive, and they shot Lee. Lee was declared dead and none of the hostages sustained injuries.
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