Gunman holding hostages at Discovery Cgannel HQ

SILVER SPRING, Maryland: A gunman stormed into the headquarters of the Discovery Channel outside Washington on Wednesday and took a "small number" of people hostage, police said.

"We have an ongoing hostage situation that we're dealing with," Montgomery County Police Department chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters, adding police were "in negotiations" with the gunman.

"Right now we have an unconfirmed number of hostages, a small number of hostages that are with the suspect at this point," he said.

"Right now we can confirm that it's an Asian male gunman," Montgomery County police spokeswoman Angela Cruz told AFP, adding that police have opened communications with the suspect.

"There appears to be a device that may be an explosive device," she added. "There is an unconfirmed report of one shot fired. There are no injuries that we are aware of and police are talking to him."

Discovery employee Lisa Lucas told TBD TV the building was in lockdown and an unknown number of employees were sheltering in their offices.

Police would not confirm local news reports that the gunman was James Jay Lee, a man with a reported history of protest against the Discovery Channel. MORE