Back to Search ResultsIncident Summary:
09/01/2010: James Lee took three hostages, two employees and the security guard, at the Discovery Communications headquarters building in Silver Spring, Maryland in the United States. Lee entered the building at about 1:00pm waving a starter pistol (which was believed to be a gun at the time), with four crude explosive strapped to his body, two were propane cylinders with pipes attached that contained shotgun shells, and the other two were pipe bombs. Lee also had a second starter pistol on him as he held the hostages for four hours as negotiators spoke with him. Lee was motivated by his disapproval of the Discovery network's television programming and in his manifesto on the internet, he laid out 11 demands for the network to change it's programming to focus on sterilization and infertility of humans rather than showcasing overpopulation, and Lee viewed the shows to be doing little to save the planet. When one hostage tried to run, Lee pointed a pistol at him, at which time Lee was shot to death by police snipers. All three hostages were freed unharmed and the rest of the 1,900 employees of the building were able to escape unharmed as well.Overview
GTD ID:
201009010022
When:
2010-09-01
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Maryland
City:
Silver Spring
Location Details:
The incident occurred at 1 Discovery Place at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road in Silver Spring, MD
What
| Type of Attack (more) | Hostage Taking (Barricade Incident) |
| Successful Attack? (more) | Yes |
| Target Type: Journalists & Media | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name of Entity | Discovery Communications | ||
| Specific Description | Discovery Communications headquarters offices and employees | ||
| Nationality of Target | United States | ||
| Hostages | Yes |
| Number of Hostages | 3 |
| US Hostages | 3 |
| Hours of Kidnapping | 4 |
| Days of Kidnapping | 0 |
| Outcome | Successful Rescue |
| Ransom | No |
| Property Damage | No |
How
| Type | Sub-type |
|---|---|
| Explosives | Suicide (carried bodily by human being) |
| Fake Weapons | |
| Weapon Details | |
| two starter pistols, four IEDs (two propane cylinders strapped to body with pipes holding shotgun shells, and two pipe bombs) | |
| Suicide Attack? | Yes |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 (more) | Yes |
| Criterion 2 (more) | Yes |
| Criterion 3 (more) | Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper (more) | No |
| Additional Information | Articles disagree as to whether or not an explosive device strapped on Lee actually detonated as he was shot by police, or if it was disarmed afterward. Four more bombs were also found at a residence in Maryland. In 2008, Lee pled guilty to disorderly conduct for protesting outside the Discovery building. |
Who
| Group Name | Claimed Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Unknown | No |
| Number of Perpetrators | 1 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators | 0 |
| Total Number of Casualties | 1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities | 1 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities | 1 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities | 1 |
| Total Number of Injured | 0 |
| Number of U.S. Injured | 0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured | 0 |
Sources
| CNN Staff, "Gunman at Discovery Channel HQ shot dead, hostages rescued," CNN.com, September 1, 2010. |
| "Gunman's body removed from Discovery building," Associated Press Online, September 2, 2010. |
| "More Bombs Found in Discovery Standoff Case," MSNBC.com, September 2, 2010. |
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