War veteran is killed after strapping explosives to hostages in California
A man who took 10 hostages while claiming to have explosives in a California school district's offices before being killed by authorities Wednesday morning was a U.S. Army veteran and a convicted sex offender, authorities said.
Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, 41, took the hostages on the second floor of the Chase Bank building in downtown Bakersfield, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, on Tuesday afternoon, beginning negotiations that lasted approximately 15 hours before he was killed in a shootout involving the FBI, authorities said.
All of the hostages were safely rescued, including two who were released Tuesday during authorities' negotiations with Searles-Harris, Bakersfield Police Assistant Chief Jeremy Blakemore said at a news conference.
Although the ground floor of the building houses a bank branch, the hostages were held on a separate floor that contains the administrative offices of the Kern County superintendent of schools, authorities said.
"The suspect stated that he had explosives attached to his body, which our team was also able to see," Blakemore said. "He also told authorities that additional explosives had been placed on some of the hostages, which we confirmed based on our own observations."
All hostages were reunited with their families on Wednesday, Blakemore said. The suspect was killed after an FBI team entered the building on Wednesday morning - an action prompted by his "erratic behavior" and concerns about the health of one of the hostages, said Sid Patel, special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento office.
Police have not confirmed whether the improvised explosive devices would work, Patel said.
Searles-Harris had barricaded himself on the second floor of the building with the hostages around 1 p.m. local time Tuesday, prompting police to close off the surrounding area and place nearby government buildings on lockdown, authorities said. The rest of the building, including the bank branch, was emptied.
Searles-Harris, who authorities said tied up five of the 10 hostages, had a "criminal history of using weapons to commit violent crimes," Patel said.
In 2014, Searles-Harris was convicted of two sex crimes involving a child under 14, state records show.
It is still unclear what motivated the war veteran to take the hostages.
During negotiations, Searles-Harris expressed "some concerns related to how his previous cases, our case, were handled and what the consequences of that were - his sentencing," Blakemore said.
The suspect lived in a residence approximately 5 kilometers from the crime scene.
Understand the case
After police received calls about the hostage situation around 1 p.m. Tuesday, negotiators spoke with Searles-Harris by phone, police said. Members of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team were called to the scene, Patel said.
During negotiations, two hostages were released on Tuesday: one at around 4 p.m. and the other just before 8:30 p.m., Blakemore said.
Negotiations eventually stalled, and Searles-Harris refused to release any more hostages, Blakemore said.
On Wednesday morning, FBI agents entered the building to confront Searles-Harris, motivated in part by concerns about one of the hostages, Patel said.
"She was diabetic, and we knew this was a life-threatening situation for this particular hostage... if we didn't act sooner rather than later," said Patel.
The hostage was in contact with authorities - who were able to obtain medication for her at one point - until her phone ran out of battery, the special agent added.
The gunshots that killed Searles-Harris occurred around 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, Bakersfield police said.
Searles-Harris served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2007 and was dishonorably discharged for an unauthorized absence, Patel said.
Bakersfield - known as a Western cultural hub for country music - lies on the southern edge of California's Central Valley. It has a population of about 420,000 - about the same as Tampa, Florida - and its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in California.
Source: CNN