Police: Discovery Channel hostages were ready to make a break for it when gunman was shot
By SARAH BRUMFIELD and KATHLEEN MILLER , Associated Press
SILVER SPRING, Md. - Police had been negotiating with James Jae Lee for several hours and intended to keep him talking for as long as it took to safely resolve the standoff at the Discovery Channel's headquarters. Inside the lobby, Lee's three hostages had no intention of waiting.
As the two Discovery employees and a security guard got ready to make a break for it, officers moving in on Lee heard him shout and then a "pop" that they thought might have been gunfire or a homemade bomb detonating. So they stepped out from behind a wall and shot him dead, ending the drama that unfolded Wednesday at the cable network's complex just north of Washington.
It turned out that Lee was armed with starter pistols, police said Thursday as they revealed new details about the culmination of Lee's yearslong crusade against the Discovery networks, which he faulted in fanatical Web posts for offering programming that promoted overpopulation.
But Lee, 43, was also carrying homemade pipe bombs, one of which went off when he was shot. Capt. Paul Starks of the Montgomery County Police department described the devices as canisters of propane with pipes around them. He said inside the pipes were shotgun shells or pellets.
Authorities found and detonated four more devices Thursday at a home about 3 miles north of the Discovery building. The owner of the house called police and said Lee had stayed there, according to Montgomery County Police Lt. Robert Bolesta.
Investigators were trying to determine whether Lee had a car or a truck.
Authorities had been negotiating for roughly four hours Wednesday afternoon when the tactical team opened fire.
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This story hit home with a lady who works where I work, and who sits in front of me on the line. She told me yesterday, her son, Lane, works for the Discovery Channel and had gone out to lunch with co-workers. One co-worker offered to pay the bill and his card was declined.
During the attempt of all fellow workers, whom were there to help scronge their pockets and pay for the bill, this person had gone into the Discovery Channel Building and started holding people as hostages. She also told me, that if everyone from this particular party of employees, had been just one minute earlier, they all would have been held too.
I told her, God was was looking out after her son and the others of their little lunch party group. To me, how much more intervention does it take for people to realize, there is always a reason why things happen- however, it's not just for us to understand at the time?
God works mysteriously in DV's situations too. If all fails according to our plans, it's just a greater plan from the heaven's above- you just need to accept the signs and go through your day accordingly. -S.L. Smith
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