BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A suspect is dead on Wednesday after taking multiple hostages and threatening to blow up a building in downtown Bakersfield. The entire situation lasted 15 hours and ended with a standoff with the FBI.
The incident began around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, when the suspect took 10 people hostage at an office building at 17th St. and Chester Ave. The building housed a Chase Bank branch on the ground floor and offices belonging to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools on upper floors.
In a press conference on Wednesday, authorities said the suspect tied up five of the hostages – and appeared to have strapped explosives to many of them.
“The suspect advised he had explosives attached to his person, which our personnel could see as well. He also told law enforcement that additional explosives had been attached to some of the hostages, which we confirmed based on our own observations,” said Bakersfield Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Blakemore.
The suspect was identified as Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, a 41-year-old registered sex offender who was dishonorably discharged from the army 20 years ago.
Bakersfield police and more than 100 FBI personnel – which included SWAT teams, bomb technicians and hostage rescue teams – negotiated with him overnight and successfully freed two of the hostages. Authorities said they spoke with him through a door and with the cell phone of one of the hostages – until the phone died.
The standoff ended around 4:30 a.m., when the FBI shot and killed Searles-Harris.
Authorities say his erratic behavior – as well as health concerns for one of the hostages – led them to act.
“She was diabetic, and we knew that this was a loss of life situation for that particular hostage that was taken if we didn't act sooner than later,” said Sid Patel, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office.
The hostages were all employees of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, which owns the building, according to news station KGET.
Ultimately, all hostages were uninjured.
“We are incredibly relieved to report that all of the hostages that were involved have been safely recovered and reunited with their families,” Blakemore said.
“What unfolded was undoubtedly a terribly frightening and unsettling experience, and the composure our employees demonstrated throughout the 16-hour ordeal was extraordinary,” wrote Kern County Superintendent of Schools John Mendiburu in a statement to media outlets. “My deepest gratitude goes to our partners at the Bakersfield Police Department, the FBI, and all responding agencies for their professionalism, courage, and commitment to protecting lives.”
While the hostage situation was still ongoing, police evacuated a perimeter around the building and blocked it off to traffic Tuesday afternoon and into the night. Many businesses reported shutting down early.
Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, who is running for Congress, cancelled an election watch party she had scheduled for a union hall just a few blocks away from the incident.
“My thoughts are with all of the families impacted by this concerning situation…Out of an abundance of caution, and to avoid creating a large gathering of people in close proximity to this incident, we will no longer hold an in-person event in downtown,” Bains wrote in a Tuesday evening press release cancelling the event.
Searles-Harris’s motives are still unknown, but he requested documents from his previous legal cases during negotiations.
Federal and local officials are still investigating the incident.
