Discovery Channel hostage taker shot dead by police, Guardian.co.uk, September 1, 2010, by Adrian Gabbatt, photo of Jame Lee © WTOP.com, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Hostage crisis at Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland ends with safe escape of all three hostages

Discovery Channel hostage taker shot dead by police. Link to video about this situation.

A man has been shot and killed by police after taking three people hostage in the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in the US.

Police said all the hostages had escaped safely following the siege, which began when a man entered the building in Silver Spring, Maryland, waving a handgun and with canisters strapped to his chest.

Officers spent several hours negotiating with the man, who was reported to be unhappy with the network’s programming schedule.

According to The Associate Press on Yahoo News, the hostage taker is a James J. Lee. “Lee had said he hated the company’s shows such as ‘Kate Plus 8,’ claiming they promoted population growth. Lee said the environmental programming did little to save the planet.

“Manger said police planned to negotiate as long as necessary, but acted when officers believed the hostages were trying to escape.

“‘We saw some hand movements from hostages,’ Manger said. ‘We’re watching this and trying to keep the focus of the guy we’re talking to. We didn’t know if they were up to something or what they were doing. We are surmising they were making a break for it.’

“Manger called the hostages and the officers heroes.

“Lee repeatedly said he was ‘ready to die,’ the police chief said.

“‘I believe he was not intending to come out of there alive,’ Manger said.

“It wasn’t the first time Lee, a homeless man who previously lived in Californian, had targeted Discovery’s headquarters. In February 2008, he was charged with disorderly conduct for staging a ‘Save the Planet Protest.’ Lee threw fistfuls of cash in the air and paid homeless people to carry signs condemning the network. Police found his pockets stuffed with more than $20,000, according to court records.

“Lee served two weeks in jail after his arrest during which doctors evaluated his competency to stand trial. County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Lee was ordered to stay 500 feet away from Discovery headquarters as part of his probation, which ended two weeks ago.

“In court and on his website, he had demanded an end to Discovery Communications LLC’s shows such as TLC’s ‘Kate Plus 8′ and ’19 Kids and Counting.’ He said the network should air ‘programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility.’

“‘Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding cultures,’ Lee wrote in a bitter manifesto on his website.

“Lee, 43, also objected to Discovery’s environmental programming. He wrote in 2008 that a show he called ‘Planet Green’ was ‘about more PRODUCTS to make MONEY, not actual solutions.’

“Police said he burst into the building about 1 p.m. and took hostages in the lobby. He had four crude explosive devices strapped to him. Two of them were green propane cylinders with pipes attached that contained shotgun shells. The other two were pipe bombs.

“One of the devices detonated when police shot him, Manger said. Authorities later sent in a robot to disarm a device on the gunman’s body.”

Montgomery County Police Chief, Thomas Manger, said an explosive device detonated on the gunman’s body when they shot him, and they were working to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks he also had with him were explosives.

The man, (likely James J. Lee), who is yet to be formally identified, entered the building at around 1pm local time.

Manger said officers were monitoring Lee on building security cameras and tactical officers moved in when they saw him pull out the handgun and point it at one of the hostages.

Police believe the 1,900 people who work in the building were able to get out safely.

…SNIP….

Visitors to Lee’s MySpace profile were invited to see “The idea I had to save the planet” by visiting a website apparently set up by the 43-year-old called savetheplanetprotest.com. It was unclear whether the length posting on the website was recent, but it railed against Discovery Communications at length, calling on it to broadcast “programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility”.

Discovery Communications operates cable and satellite networks in the US and elsewhere, including the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet.

Lee has a lengthy history of protesting against the Discovery Channel.

See Hostages Showed ‘Tremendous Courage’, WTOP.com, September 2, 2010.

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