Standoff at Discovery Headquarters Ends with Gunman's Death
The gunman who entered Discovery Channel headquarters with a gun and explosives Wednesday afternoon, later being shot and killed by police, has a name: James J. Lee. During the ordeal, police believed the shooter to be Lee, but his name was not confirmed until later.
According to MSNBC, Lee, 43, has been protesting for years against what he saw as the company’s failures to show television programs that made clear to the public the danger to the planet of human overpopulation and animal extinction.
Apparently, Lee also spoke to NBC producers during the standoff and told them he had explosive devices on him, which he learned to make from personal experience and research, as well as from watching the Discovery show, Mythbusters.
The Washington Post reported that in 2008, Lee wrote a rant against Discovery in a newspaper personal ad. "We are running out of time to save this planet and the Discovery Channel is a big part of the problem, not the solution, "Lee wrote. "Instead of showing successful solutions, their broadcast programs seem to be doing the opposite."
Lee also operated a website, SavethePlanetProtest.com. The site is filled with writing that lists demands against Discovery Channel and the world in general. The site blames humans for the world’s problems and towards the end of the rant, concludes that the world “does not need humans,” and that as such the human population should cease reproduction.
Lee repeatedly cited My Ishmael, a book by environmentalist Daniel Quinn on the website and according to reports, mentioned it during the standoff. My Ishmael tells the story of a gorilla named Ishmael looking for a student to help him save the world. The author told MSNBC reporters that he has never spoken to Lee, and doesn’t know how the gunman would have gotten any of his ideas from the book.
It was around 1 p.m. Wednesday that Lee entered the Discovery headquarters, located in Silver Spring, MD, taking several hostages as others managed to flee the building. The standoff lasted for four hours before police shot and killed Lee.