A man was fatally shot after seizing 10 school staff members as hostages and asserting he had attached explosives to himself. Law enforcement intervened at a building in Bakersfield, California, bringing an end to a nearly 16-hour standoff where the suspect restrained half of the hostages and claimed to have rigged them and himself with explosives, according to police sources.
The Kern County Superintendent of Schools employees, who were held captive, were discovered unharmed within the premises, which also accommodates a Chase bank, mentioned Bakersfield Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Blakemore.
Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, aged 41, was fatally shot around 4:20 am, as confirmed by Sid Patel, the special agent in charge at the FBI’s Sacramento office. Authorities disclosed that Searles-Harris, an Army veteran with a dishonorable discharge and a history of encounters with law enforcement, was a registered sex offender.
During a news briefing, Blakemore mentioned that Searles-Harris claimed to have a bomb while barricading himself on the building’s second floor. Although authorities were examining the devices that he alleged were explosives, Patel stated they seemed not to pose a threat.
One of the hostages managed to communicate with law enforcement using her phone until it lost power, Patel revealed. Being diabetic and without her medication, officials were alerted to the potential risk she faced.
Blakemore acknowledged the mental trauma the hostages might be enduring, stating that victim specialists would be available to assist them. The motive behind the standoff was not elaborated on by authorities, although Blakemore mentioned that some of Searles-Harris’ demands related to materials from a prior case.
Records from the California Department of Justice and the court indicated that Searles-Harris was on the state’s sex offender registry due to convictions in 2014 for sex offenses involving a child under 14 years old. He was released from incarceration in 2018.
FBI officials reported that Searles-Harris served approximately a year in the Army before being dishonorably discharged in 2007 for going AWOL. Court documents in Kern County revealed that Searles-Harris had filed for a domestic violence prevention petition and was engaged in divorce proceedings starting in 2009, involving a young child and later a guardianship dispute where he contested.
Blakemore informed about videos posted by Searles-Harris criticizing the sheriff’s office and asserting his innocence regarding past sex crime convictions. The department stated it had no plans to investigate these claims.
The reason behind Searles-Harris targeting the school district office remained unclear. John Mendiburu, the county schools superintendent, commended the staff’s composure during the frightening ordeal.
The standoff commenced on Tuesday afternoon following a bomb threat alert at the Chase Bank building in Bakersfield. The police’s crisis negotiation team engaged with Searles-Harris by phone, resulting in the release of two hostages on Tuesday night. Nearby buildings were evacuated, including City Hall and the police headquarters, with roads closed during the hostage crisis.
Over 100 FBI personnel, including SWAT teams, bomb technicians, and crisis negotiators, collaborated in the operation. A hostage rescue team was dispatched from the East Coast, as Patel confirmed.
Jacob Davidson, known as Dad’s Gone Live, observed the events near the building and captured footage of the situation. He witnessed police entering the building and a woman inside exhibiting distress before being seen waving hands.
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