Discovery Channel Hostages Safe, Radical Environmentalist James Lee Shot Dead by Tactical Units (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on September 1, 2010
Eco-radical James Lee's MySpace page
After four hours of intense negotiations, radical environmentalist James Lee — who held three people hostage at the Discovery Channel headquarters outside of Washington in Silver Spring, Maryland — is dead.
The first two news videos were broadcast earlier today.
I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but this man was deeply troubled and likely psychotic. He was a liberal eco-nut extremist who was inspired by climate change huckster Al Gore — wasn’t a conservative nor a tea partier nor a Republican… I’m sure the left-wing media will figure out a way to connect non-existent dots.
A portion of his anti-human, disjointed manifesto is at the bottom of this post.
James Jay Lee Described as ‘Unstable and Disagreeable’
FOX News: Hostage Situation Inside Discovery Channel Building
From KTAR News, Police kill gunman who held 3 at Discovery Channel:
SILVER SPRING, Md. – A man who railed against the Discovery Channel’s environmental programming for years burst into the company’s headquarters with at least one explosive device strapped to his body Wednesday and took three people hostage at gunpoint before police shot him to death, officials said.
The hostages – two Discovery Communications employees and a security guard – were unhurt after the four-hour standoff. Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said tactical officers moved in after officers monitoring Lee on building security cameras saw him pull out a handgun and point it at a hostage.
An explosive device on the gunman’s body detonated when police shot him, Manger said. Police were trying to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks the gunman had also contained explosives.
A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing said authorities had identified James J. Lee as the likely suspect.
NBC News reported that after its producers called Discovery’s general number, a man identifying himself as James J. Lee got on the phone and said he had a gun and several bombs.
“I have several bombs strapped to my body ready to go off. I have a device that if I drop it, if I drop it, it will … explode,” the man told NBC.He said he built the bombs in about three weeks. “I did a lot of research. I had to experiment,” he said.
Manger said the suspect held the hostages in the lobby area of the first floor. Authorities said they will methodically go through the building and identify any suspicious items.
The “building is still a crime scene,” Manger said. “We still have work to do.”
Manger said police spent several hours negotiating with the armed man after he entered the suburban Washington building about 1 p.m. None of the 1,900 people who work in the building were hurt, and most made it out before the standoff ended.
Report: Police Shoot, Kill Gunman at Discovery HQ
From ABC News, Environmental Militant Killed by Police at Discovery Channel Headquarters:
A radical environmentalist who took three hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters while wearing what police may be explosives was shot and killed by officers, police said.
The gunman, identified as James Lee, was killed by police following four hours of negotiations but the hostages are all safe, said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
Manger said the suspect had “metalic canisters” strapped to his chest and back. When Lee was struck by police bullets, one of the canisters “popped.” Police have not confirmed if the canisters were a bomb, but Manger said the “device may have gone off” when he was shot.
Manger said police will search the building looking for other potential explosives Lee may have left inside.
“All the hostages are safe,” Manger said, ending a four hour standoff in which some 1,900 employees were evacuated from the building as well as the company’s on-site daycare center.
Manger said police spoke with Lee “for several hours” during which time he expressed “a wide range of emotions during those communications.”
From Shepperton News, US gunman shot dead in TV station siege:
Police shot dead a gunman and freed three people he had taken hostage on Wednesday in a dramatic four-hour standoff at the Discovery Channel headquarters outside Washington.
“Our tactical units moved in” when the suspect pointed a handgun at one of the hostages, Montgomery County police chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters.
“They shot the suspect. The suspect is deceased,” he said.
Police had feared for the lives of the hostages after more than two hours of telephone talks with the gunman, who was exhibiting “a wide range of emotions during our negotiations”, Manger said.
The gunman, an Asian male, had “what we believe to be explosive devices strapped to his front and back,” Manger said, adding police heard a popping sound and the device “appeared to go off”.
“There are other suspected devices in the building that have not been rendered safe,” he added, saying the building was being swept by police.
Local news reports, citing law enforcement sources, identified the gunman as James Jay Lee, a man with a history of protest against the Discovery Channel, known for its wildlife documentaries as well as survivalist and military programs.
Lee had gone so far as to post a list of demands including that the cable station “broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet”.
In a rambling, profanity-laden manifesto posted on Lee’s Savetheplanetprotest.com, he insisted Discovery “stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants”, cease promoting war and weapons of mass destruction through its technology programming, and promote an end to all immigration.
Manger acknowledged the gunman “had some history with the folks at Discovery Channel and I believe in fact that he was arrested here a couple years ago”.
From Business Insider, There’s A Hostage Situation At Discovery Channel HQ:
UPDATE 5:20 – James Lee is dead.
UPDATE 4:58 – A third update from the Montgomery County police:
Three people had been taken hostage and all of them got out safely. “The suspect,” aka Lee, who was shot by police, is in custody. No word on Lee’s condition, but no injuries to the hostages. Police need to clear the rest of the building. “The building is not safe because of devices we have not rendered safe in that area.”
UPDATE 4:00 – A second press update, but no new information:
“We’re just continuing to talk with the man and we’re hoping that this brings about a safe and successful resolution,” said Montgomery County Police Capt. Paul Starks. A reporter asked if the FBI was talking with Lee. Starks said only the Montgomery County Police Department was speaking with him.
UPDATE 3:15 — Thomas J. Manger, the chief of the Montgomery County Police Department, gave a press conference. Here’s what he told reporters:
The suspect entered Discovery HQ around 1 p.m. EST waving a handgun earlier this afternoon. There’s an ongoing hostage situation. Just under 1,900 employees work in the building. Most of them are out, but there may be still be a few on the upper floors. There’s a small, unconfirmed number of hostages with the suspect. Negotiations are ongoing. Police won’t confirm the suspect’s identity until they get a chance to speak with him face to face.
EARLIER – A crazy guy who is armed and may or may not have explosives, and who is believed to have taken at least one hostage, is holed up inside Discovery Channel HQ in Silver Spring, Md.
Here’s what we know about this guy so far:
His name is James Jay Lee, a 43-year-old of Asian descent. He used to live in San Diego but authorities have confirmed that he currently resides in Silver Spring.
Lee — check him out on MySpace — is some sort of anti-population-growth radical environmentalist who has clearly gone a bit off the deep end. He’s apparently obsessed with the Discovery Channel, whose programming he objects to, and he has a two-year history of regularly protesting outside the network’s offices.
In February 2008, Lee was “arrested after throwing thousands of dollars into the air at a rally outside of Discovery Communications.”
From Christian Science Monitor:
Lee’s focus on the Discovery Channel is not new.
For several years, he had been protesting outside the company’s headquarters, carrying signs and placards critical of the channel’s programming. In March 2008, he was fined $500 and given six months supervised probation on a charge of disorderly conduct. The judge in the case ordered him to stay 500 feet away from Discovery Communications.
[...]
Most of the 1,900 Discovery employees had been evacuated before police negotiations began.
Discovery Communications includes the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and Planet Green networks. Discovery Communications officials could not be reached regarding the hostage episode or Lee’s angry manifesto against the company.
A portion of Lee’s rambling manifesto…
All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.
[...]
You’re also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.
Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture.
For every human born, ACRES of wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in order to feed that new addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new human’s lifespan! THIS IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human procreation and farming must cease!
It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices. Children represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution whereas their parents are current pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third World child. It’s like a couple are having 30 babies even though it’s just one! If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!
Also, war must be halted. Not because it’s morally wrong, but because of the catastrophic environmental damage modern weapons cause to other creatures. FIND SOLUTIONS JUST LIKE THE BOOK SAYS! Humans are supposed to be inventive. INVENT, DAMN YOU!!
The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them to breed more environmentally harmful humans.
Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.
The humans? The planet does not need humans.
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