Gunman Takes Hostage At Discovery Channel Building

By Nancy Atkinson - September 1, 2010 at 10:52 AM UTC | Site News

UPDATE:

Three hostages have been released unharmed, and the suspect, James J. Lee, was shot at about 4:50 p.m. EDT by police. The latest reports say he was killed.

Lee, armed with a gun and an explosive device entered the Discovery Communications building in Silver Spring on Wednesday afternoon and took several people hostage including a security guard, Montgomery County Police said.

Some breaking news via former UT writer Ian O'Neill who now works for

Discovery Space News

A protester has taken at least one hostage at the Discovery Channel building in Silver Spring, Maryland. Reportedly a man entered the lobby and may have fired a weapon and declared, "Nobody is going anywhere," according to Montgomery County police. Other reports said the gunman may have had explosives attached to his chest. The building has been evacuated, including an in-house daycare center, but a live news feed on TBD recently showed medical personnel bringing in a stretcher. Via Twitter,

there is link to a list of demands to the Discovery Channel by someone named "Lee."

NBC just reported that the alleged gunman is James Jay Lee, who has a history of protesting outside the Discovery Channel building.

We'll provide an update when it becomes available. Thankfully, Ian is not at the building.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com