Suspect who took 10 people hostage in California standoff has been shot and killed, police say
Suspect who took 10 people hostage in California standoff has been shot and killed, police say
(AP Photo/David Dennis)
A man was shot and killed by the FBI early Wednesday after taking 10 school employees hostage inside a Southern California office building and warning that he had strapped explosives to himself and some of the hostages, police said.
Authorities stormed the building in downtown Bakersfield overnight, ending a nearly 16-hour standoff during which the suspect tied up half the hostages, police said.
The hostages — employees of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools — were found unharmed inside the building that also houses a bank, Bakersfield Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Blakemore said.
“Throughout the night, their families questioned whether or not they would be seen again but we are very grateful for the outcome,” Blakemore said during a news conference Wednesday.
Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, 41, was shot and killed around 4:20 a.m., according to Sid Patel, special agent in charge in the FBI’s Sacramento office. Authorities said he was an Army veteran who was dishonorably discharged, had a history of trouble with law enforcement and was a registered sex offender.
Searles-Harris was armed with explosives and barricaded himself within the second floor of the building, where the county’s superintendent of schools’ office is located, according to law enforcement. Authorities were testing the devices Wednesday, but Patel said they do not appear to be a concern.
One of the hostages was able to communicate with law enforcement using her phone until her battery died, Patel said. She was diabetic and didn’t have her medicine so officials knew she was at risk, he said.
“I’m sure there’ll be mental scars that they’re living with, and we’ll have our victim specialist to help them,” Patel said.
While authorities declined to discuss details about how they ended the standoff or the motive behind it, Blakemore said some of the demands Searles-Harris made involved asking for materials from an earlier case.
“He had concerns related to how his previous case had been handled and what the aftermath of that was, the sentencing and those kinds of things,” Blakemore said, without specifying details.
California Department of Justice and court records show Searles-Harris was on the state’s sex offender registry due to convictions in 2014 for sexual crimes related to a child under 14 years of age. Those records show he was released from prison in 2018.
Defense attorney Arturo Revelo said he represented Searles-Harris in that case and described him as a disturbed man who believed the government was out to get him.
He said police asked him to help Tuesday during the hostage situation, but he was never allowed to talk to Searles-Harris and instead had to make two videos saying he was there with the case’s documents and would assist him in anyway he could.
Revelo said he was told that Searles-Harris would let the hostages go in exchange for the documents but he did not see that happen while he was there.
FBI officials said Searles-Harris served about a year in the Army before being dishonorably discharged in 2007 for going AWOL.
Court records in Kern County, California, show Searles-Harris filed a petition to prevent domestic violence, and was involved in divorce proceedings that began in 2009 and note a young child, as well as a fight for guardianship years later in which he was listed as an objector.
During the news conference, Blakemore said he was aware of videos Searles-Harris had apparently posted criticizing the sheriff’s office and claiming he was innocent of his previous sex crimes convictions. He said the videos were being reviewed, but the department had no plans to investigate the claims of innocence.
It wasn’t clear why Searles-Harris targeted the school district office.
“What unfolded was undoubtedly a terribly frightening and unsettling experience, and the composure our employees demonstrated throughout the 16-hour ordeal was extraordinary,” John Mendiburu, the county schools superintendent, said in a statement.
The standoff began early Tuesday afternoon, when officers responded to a call of a bomb threat at the Chase Bank building, a four-story office building with dark-tinted glass windows in Bakersfield, a city of about 380,000 residents about 100 miles (160 kms) northeast of Los Angeles.
The police department’s crisis negotiation team talked with Searles-Harris by phone, and he released two hostages Tuesday.
Authorities evacuated buildings nearby, including City Hall and the police headquarters that are just a block away.
More than 100 FBI personnel assisted, including two SWAT teams, bomb technicians and crisis negotiation teams, Patel said. A hostage rescue team was deployed from its headquarters on the East Coast, he said.
___
Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed.
There are floral tributes at the scene where three crew members died on Wednesday.
Sir Alex held a career in British intelligence that spanned almost three decades after joining the service in 1991.
Residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed as crews battle the fire in Port Talbot.
By Kyu-seok Shim and Joyce Lee SEOUL, June 4 (Reuters) – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s ruling Democratic Party swept most major local races in elections held on Wednesday, but suffered a
Bristol ‘micro‑campus’ scheme brings university courses into communities to boost access.
A total of 15 organisations were selected to receive a grant from fundraiser’s foundation.
SYDNEY, June 4 (Reuters) – The Australian state of Victoria on Thursday introduced laws to give authorities more powers to shut down businesses selling illegal tobacco, as new data showed nicotine use
The new hospital near Keighley will replace existing buildings made with collapse-prone concrete.
Kelly Bossons wants fans to spend the break between matches registering their own decision.
JERUSALEM, June 4 (Reuters) – Israel will continue its operations on the ground in southern Lebanon for the time being and Lebanese residents forced from their homes by Israel would not be able to
Nine concepts for new locations for lovelocks by the River Trent will be subject to a public vote.
The one-day festival was due to feature comedians such as Lou Sanders and Tom Rosenthal.
Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon where Hezbollah would be banned.
A free ‘prom library’ has been set up in a bid to tackle the cost of clothing for the event
It’s been nicknamed the “Obamalisk” and compared to a Star Wars spaceship and the Eye of Sauron from “The Lord of the Rings”. Obama himself has poked fun at the Star Wars comparisons, appearing in a video with actor Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, with the museum towering over them.
Inside Limited had been locked in a legal dispute with North East Derbyshire District Council.
Two men and a woman were also injured and have been taken to hospital for treatment.
The first homes on a site in Derby which had lain derelict for decades are now being occupied.
June 4 (Reuters) – Monsoon rains hit the coast of India’s southernmost state of Kerala on Thursday, three days later than usual, the weather office said, offering respite from a gruelling heatwave
STOCKHOLM, June 4 (Reuters) – Sweden’s centre-left opposition parties are expected to win the country’s election for parliament in September, likely ousting the right-wing government, according to an
Powered by WPeMatico