911 Callers Describe Discovery Channel Gunman

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Emergency calls placed minutes after a gunman entered the Discovery Channel's headquarters include descriptions of the propane tanks strapped to his body, a blinking device in his left hand.

Montgomery County police released recordings of radio transmissions from first minutes of the response and frantic 911 calls Friday, two days after a man held three people hostage for hours at the Discovery Communications building in Silver Spring, Md. James Lee, 43, was shot dead by officers as the captives were preparing to make a break for it, police said.

Even in the first minutes after the siege began, Discovery security had an idea of who they were dealing with. A security employee calmly tells a 911 operator that they believe the man with what looks like an improvised explosive device in the lobby is Lee. He tells the operator Lee appears disoriented, he has propane tanks strapped to his chest, a blinking device in his left hand and at least one person on the ground.

"It looks like he's got an IED. He looks like he's setting up an explosive device in the lobby, you're probably going to need a sniper," he tells the operator. "You gotta move fast."

In police radio transmissions, an officer describes the suspect as an "Asian male following the do-not-admit sign Discovery has."

Lee, who was periodically homeless, was charged with disorderly conduct in February 2008 after he staged a "Save the Planet" protest outside the Discovery building. He threw fistfuls of cash in the air and paid homeless people to carry signs condemning the network. Police found him with a duffel bag stuffed with more than $20,000, according to court records.

He was convicted and served two weeks in jail and was ordered to stay 500 feet away from Discovery headquarters as part of his probation, which ended two weeks ago.

Radio transmissions detail the rush to the building after the first reports came in and the urgent attempts to evacuate the building and clear traffic and people from the streets around the building in the heart of the bustling downtown during lunchtime on a sunny day. One officer describes Lee setting up a bullhorn with a remote microphone.

Later, one of the police snipers describes the explosive device Lee had strapped to his body as coffee cans and propane canisters and a grip in his hand with a flashing light, "a red, luminous light continuously flashing." The officer says Lee has a microphone and is "protesting verbally."

One Discovery employee tells an operator that she's hiding in the kitchen of the building's cafeteria with other employees. She said the man came in the main lobby, the only place people can come in without a badge.

"When I walked by him, he said 'Nobody move!' and he shot in the air and I ran," the employee said.