Crazed eco-terrorist shot dead after taking hostages at Discovery Channel HQ after they 'ignored his ideas for a TV show'
- At least one device explodes as James Jay Lee is gunned down
- Lee said he had been inspired by Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'
- His website urged people to stop having 'disgusting babies' and halt overpopulation
- He had been arrested in 2008 for protesting outside the same building
A gunman has been shot dead by police after taking a number of hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland, U.S., after his idea for a television show was rejected.
All three of James Jay Lee's hostages managed to escape safely. At least one device appeared to explode as he was gunned down.
Lee walked into the main entrance of the building at 1pm today waving a gun and wearing what appeared to be metallic canisters strapped to his front and back.
Loner: James Jay Lee is shown in a February 2008 photograph protesting outside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Maryland. Today he was shot after taking hostages in the same building
Fear: An unidentified woman runs past police cars as the hostage crisis unfolds. It is not clear if she was an employee in the building, a hostage, or working with police
Police have not yet confirmed if he was carrying a bomb. Three bomb technicians were rushed to the scene in Silver Springs, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC.
Most of the 1,900 people who work in the building were able to escape safely. Children were also rushed to safety from the company's daycare facility, including four cribs full of babies.
They were reunited with their frantic parents in a nearby McDonald's.
Earlier, police said they are negotiating with Lee now and watching him on CCTV.
It is not yet clear what he wanted - but it is believed that he became enraged after Discovery rejected his ideas for a television show.
Danger: Police in bullet-proof vests cautiously approach the Discovery Channel HQ during the stand-off
Most watched News videos
- Public gather in London to view suspected Banksy art work
- Man found dead in suspected hit and run on street in Tamarama
- 'I could write a whole book on it': Peter Andre on Louis Walsh
- Vladimir Putin says his election win will consolidate Russian society
- Moment female acrobat falls 12ft after circus act goes wrong
- Irish Guards pay tribute to Princess of Wales on St Patrick's Day
- Bodycam shows Riley Strain speaking to cops night he went missing
- AOC's NYC district filled with migrants running a 'flea market'
- Horror scenes after man falls to death from hot air balloon in VIC
- Vicious teen brawl broken up by SoCal cops before mall shut down
- Drone footage shows the M25 empty as workers demolish a bridge
- Moment Eagle Ridge boy is swarmed and beaten up by mob of students