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Discovery Channel gunman hostage update
by Joseph Ernest September 1, 2010
Newscast Media – UPDATE 5:00 PM: Police shot the suspect. His condition is not known. The three hostages are safe.
Officers shot the suspect at 4:48 p.m., Chief Tom Manger said. The gunman's condition was not immediately known. He hasn't been removed from the building.
Manger said the gunman had a device or devices strapped to his body, and the "device appeared to go off," Manger said.
REVIEW 4:33: Police are negotiating with a suspected gunman who police say is holding "a small number of hostages" in the Discovery Channel headquarters building in downtown Silver Spring.
They have identified the gunman as longtime Discovery Channel protester James Jay Lee, who was arrested in 2008.
Lee apparently opened fire in the lobby, said "Nobody is going anywhere."
Watch continuing coverage of the story on TBD TV.
UPDATE 4:03: MoCo police are having a briefing, and said little except that they will have another update by 5 p.m. Police said some details "may affect how we're treating this situation."
UPDATE 3:41 P.M.: The St. Michael School at 824 Wayne Avenue has been placed on lockdown, ABC 7 News has confirmed.
MoCo POLICE UPDATE 3:20 p.m.: Montgomery County police chief Tom Manger said negotiations with the gunman are ongoing, and that there are a "small number of hostages" but an exact number had not been established. Manger said there had been no reports of injuries as of yet.
He also declined to say whether the gunman had made any demands.
"I'm not going to discuss the nature of our conservations with him," Manger said.
As for reports that the gunman may have a bomb, Manger said, "We're going with the assumption they could be explosive devices."
Manger declined to identify the gunman publicly, saying police would have to meet with him face to face first. Sources have identified him as James Jay Lee.
Capt. Paul Starks said police would have another update before 4 p.m.
UPDATES ON SUSPECT: Lee was arrested outside the Discovery Channel headquarters on Feb. 21, 2008. The arrest was captured in a story by ABC 7 News. During his arrest, Lee listed a homeless shelter in Silver Spring as his address. A case manager at the shelter told TBD on Wednesday that they did not have a James Lee on file, but added that many people list them as an address.
UPDATE 2:52: Justice Department correspondent for
NBC News, Pete Williams, confirms names of suspect as James Jay Lee, a
longtime protester of Discovery. ABC News is also confirming. Here's an old DCist post on Lee.
UPDATE 2:33 p.m. This was an e-mail sent to Discovery employees
Subject: URGENT: Employees Should Go Home - Don't Return to 1DP Until Further Notice Employees at 1DP should go home for the remainder of the day. No employee should return to 1DP for any reason. Employees with cars at 1DP should not return to the office, but instead use an alternate mode of transportation.
The children from Discovery Kids Place are safe and with their teachers at the McDonald's at the intersection of Colesville and Second Aves. Parents should meet their children there and go home for the remainder of the day.
UPDATE 2:25 All workers in building were evacuated. Many told to go home though they left personal items in the building.
UPDATE 2:21: Police are saying there is at least one hostage.
UPDATE 2:15 p.m. Angela Gates, a Metro spokeswoman, said the Silver Spring Metro station remains open, though the south entrance is closed. Buses that service the Silver Spring Transit Center are being detoured around closed streets, she said. Colesville Road is blocked off.
UPDATE: 2:02 p.m.: The Discovery Channel day care has been evacuated to the nearby McDonald's. The day care had about 100 kids. They are reported to be safe.
UPDATE: 1:50 p.m.: According to Cpl. Dan Friz, a Montgomery County police spokesman, a tactical team is trying to get in touch with the gunman, who is being monitored on closed circuit TV.
The "tactical team has put together a plan for dealing with this individual," Friz told ABC 7 News.
Friz was unable to confirm reports that multiple shots have been fired, but he said no shots had been fired by police as of 1:40 p.m.
Police were initially dispatched to the building for the report of shots fired at about 1 p.m. Police are reporting the suspect is an Asian male.
"Some sort of device on him that may be explosive in nature..." Friz said.
ORIGINAL
Montgomery County police have confirmed the Discovery Communications headquarters on Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring has been evacuated after the report of a man possibly with explosives inside the building.
A man entered the lobby and may have fired a weapon and declared, "Nobody is going anywhere," Montgomery County police said. Add Comments>>
Source ABC 7 News
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