Gunman who held 3 hostage at Discovery Channel killed

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 yesterday 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 a four-hour standoff.

Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said tactical officers moved in after officers monitoring the man 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 continuing said authorities had identified James J. Lee as the likely suspect.

Police and firefighters looked at an image on a laptop screen of a body lying face-up, surrounded by blood. Authorities sent in a robot to disarm the explosive on the gunman's body.

NBC News reported that after its producers called Discovery's general number, a man identifying himself as James J. Lee got on the phone. "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.

Manger said the suspect held the hostages in the lobby area of the first floor. He said police spent several hours negotiating with the man after he entered the suburban Washington building about 1 p.m. None of the 1,900 people who work in the building was hurt. Most made it out before the standoff ended.

Lee was convicted of disorderly conduct for a protest he organized outside Discovery's offices in February 2008. According to court records, he paid homeless people to carry signs and set off a scramble when he threw cash into the air, calling it "just trash." Lee served 2 weeks in jail.

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.

"The Discovery Channel produces many so-called 'Environ- mental Programs' supposedly there to save the planet," Lee said in an ad he took out in a Washington newspaper. "But the truth is things are getting WORSE! Their programs are causing more harm than good."

A lengthy posting that could be seen on a website registered to Lee said Discovery and its affiliates should stop "encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants," a possible reference to shows like "Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting." He said the network should air "programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility."

At his trial, The Gazette of Montgomery County reported, Lee said he began working to save the planet after being laid off from his job in San Diego. He said he was inspired by "Ishmael," a novel by environmentalist Daniel Quinn, and by Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."