I work at the Discovery building and we had a really fun day today! It was a pretty ****ed up situation. At 1:02 I looked out our 3rd floor window and saw a dude in shorts with a badge and a shotgun running across our traffic circle. At that point I knew it was a serious situation.

I heard from a co-worker that someone walked in the door with a gun and walked up to our receptionist who promptly said "I'm not talking to you" She then got up and ran away. Later talked to her and found out that she wasn't even in the room at the time. It just goes to show you how rumors start in such a heated environment.

Any which way, my first reaction was to run to my car, grab my camera and sneak out of the garage (we were in lock down) I had 2 ways I could exit. The first one put me out right by the lobby. I was at that door, contemplating opening it when I remembered the guy with the shotgun that I saw running right by there. I figured in such a situation, it wasn't the best idea to pop out in the middle of it with a camera with a big lens. So I backed down the steps and went out a more quiet exit, crossed the street under police direction, over to the little parking lot in front of Red Lobster and started taking pictures.

The place was swarming with cops. I really couldn't get any good pictures, the cops kept pushing me back.

I then realized that I wasn't getting back in the building, my wife was freaking out and the cops were very conspicuous in their presence.

I worked my way around the building going towards the metro stop. It was determined that the subway stop was still open. I walked by some very serious swat team dudes suiting up for war. I asked them to be safe and they thanked me for my sentiments. I thanked them for being there.

I ended up by the mcdonalds. They were letting all the Discovery folks out of the building. I saw some cars leaving the building. I tried to get back in to get my car and found that that was not possible. Once again the cops were very determined not to let anyone in, just let people out. I can understand that.

I then figured it was time to go home. My car was inside and I didn't see any hope of getting back in so I hopped onto the metro, got to Glenmont. My wife was coming down from Damascus to pick me up. I was trying to catch a bus going north on Georgia. While waiting on the bus I realized that all the buses we were trying to catch were caught up in Silver Spring. They were not going to get there very easily. I walked around the corner and saw some Discovery folks. I asked if anyone was going north and got an affirmative on that. Dan from Planet Green got me to Olney. I met my wife at the Popeyes up there and finally got home.

As far as the nut job, he was a known quantity to Discovery. 2 years ago he was a one man picketing fool at Discovery. Claiming that we were not doing enough to prevent ecological disaster. He then started hiring homeless people to picket for him at one hundred bucks a pop. He then resorted to throwing thousands of dollars up in the air to attract attention. He finally was arrested for public disturbance and littering!

I just heard that the nut job got off probation 2 weeks ago and this was his brilliant plan he came up with. What an *******. It sucks that this guy had to defile our beautiful building with his hate and his blood. I am very relieved that the hostages were out of there safe. But then again, they will always have to live with the sight of this butt hole getting his brains blown out by the swat team. What a tool!

My hat is off to the men and women that responded to this crisis today. Those guys are damn serious and damn good at what they do. I think we are all much safer with these folks on the alert. Very impressive show of force today.

regards

ken

 

Happy you got out safe. There are too many nut jobs out there.

 

Glad to here you made it out OK.

Also glad the police did what they needed to do. People like that do not need to get three squares and a cot on the taxpayer's dime!

 

Wow, as soon as I heard the news I thought of you - glad it turned out the way it did.