'Ishmael' Author Baffled by Discovery Channel Gunman

(NewsCore) - The author of a book which was said to have inspired an armed man who took three men hostage at the Discovery Channel's headquarters in Maryland on Wednesday said he is baffled by the gunman's interpretation of his popular tale, The Washington Post reported.

James Jay Lee, described as an Asian man aged in his 40s, was shot and killed by police after he pointed a gun at one of the hostages.

During the four-hour siege he told an NBC producer that he had a gun and a bomb. "I have several bombs strapped to my body ready to go off," he said.

Lee, who had previously protested against the cable channel, posted a rambling manifesto on his website, savetheplanetprotest.com, that included a set of 11 demands for the network.

He said he was inspired by "My Ishmael," Daniel Quinn's novel about a talking gorilla, and by Al Gore's global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

The manifesto demanded the Discovery Channel run daily, prime-time shows "based on" a six-page passage of the novel in which Ishmael talks to a 12-year-old girl about the Industrial Revolution and why humans were so creative and resourceful during that period.

"Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that," he wrote.

The book is part of a trilogy by Quinn, who said late Wednesday he never meant the book to be seen as an argument for limiting birth rates to stop overpopulation.

"He's exaggerated what I've said," Quinn said.

"I've seen many people take off in odd directions from things they've seen in my books, but nothing so catastrophic as someone arming himself with bombs and guns ... I know this will have a big effect on my books themselves. Sales might zoom up, but that doesn't mean approval of it will zoom up. It might zoom down."

Lee had entered the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., shortly after 1:00pm Wednesday with explosive devices strapped to his body. He reportedly waved a handgun in the air and told everyone not to move.

He then took three males, including a security guard, hostage and moved them to another area on the ground floor. Some building employees fled into the street while other workers were told to take shelter in the locked offices on their floors.

Nearly 100 children were evacuated safely from a day care center inside the building to a nearby McDonald's.

In addition to the explosives strapped to his body -- described by police as "metallic canisters on his front and back" -- Lee had two boxes and two backpacks with potential explosive devices inside them.

He was killed about 4:50pm local time, almost four hours after the standoff began.

Discovery Channel released a statement early Thursday thanking police, fire and rescue for their professionalism during evacuation of the building.

"First and foremost, Discovery Communications wants to express how relieved and grateful we are that all employees and the children from the Discovery Kids Place daycare center are safe," David Leavy, Discovery communications executive vice president of global communications and corporate affairs said

"Discovery thanks the Montgomery County Police and Fire & Rescue and other state and federal safety personnel whose quick thinking and fast action ensured the safety of the employees and children in the building as well as the Silver Spring, Md., community.

"The events of today showed the strong heart of the Discovery family."

Entertainment website The Wrap reported that in 2008 Lee launched a "Save the Planet Essay Contest" where he promised "$200,000 worth of commercial real estate property in Hawaii plus $10,000 in cash for the best TV show idea to save the planet."

He asked contestants to submit "an essay or a package presentation about a TV show that could be developed based on Daniel Quinn's book, 'My Ishmael.'"

"The title of your TV show should be very catchy ... Think of titles like 'American Idol,' 'The Apprentice,' and other shows that are obviously good and memorable because of their catchy, well-thought out, titles. Then think of the titles that are obviously bad and try to avoid making your show title sound like those," Lee wrote.

To inspire the respondents Lee posted an example of one of the failed reality show scripts that he submitted to the Discovery Channel. He had come up with an adventure-based show called "Race to Save the Planet" where "contestants would come from all over to compete with each other and come up with ideas to save the planet."

Also in 2008 he was ordered by a Maryland judge to stay at least 500 feet from the Discovery building after he was arrested for disorderly conduct.

During that demonstration, Lee threw thousands of dollars in cash into the air to prove that "money means nothing."