According to the WUSA-TV website: "There is a lockdown situation at the Discovery Communications headquarters in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. There were reports of shots fired. The situation occurred just after 1:00pm on Wednesday afternoon. According to Cpl. Dan Friz with the Montgomery County Police, it appears he had some sort of explosive device and has taken at least one hostage. We’ll keep you up to date on this story as we hear more information."

You can follow the situation live on a live streaming feed on the Internet on the WUSA-TV website at http://www.wusa9.com/video/livestream/9newsnow-chat.aspx

UPDATE 1:20 PM, PT. Ths suspect is allegedly James Lee. Both Lee’s website and My Space page appear to be down, overwhelmed by traffic. However, Lee has written a manifesto, captured by Business Insider, entitled "The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY" To read it, click here

UPDATE: 12:12 PM, PT: The gunman has been identified as James Lee, according to a number of news reports. The Seattle Weekly is reporting: "In 2008, Lee was arrested for disorderly conduct by Montgomery County police after a lengthy protest outside of the company’s headquarters. Lee was upset by what he saw as a pro-capitalist, anti-environmental agenda in Discovery’s shows."

The Weekly is also reporting that "A website called savetheplanetprotest.com is registered to Lee at an address in Burnaby, British Columbia." [12:30 PM, PT NOTE: Lee’s website may be down. He also has a My Space page here.]

UPDATE: 12:17 PM, PT: Police have said they cannot confirm that shots have been fired. They have confirmed that there is an "ongoing" hostage situation. A small number of hostages are with the gunman on the lobby level of the Discovery Communicaitons building, police said. They do not know how many hostages, nor if any of them have been injured, though there have been no reports of injuries. Police cannot confirm the gunman’s name. Most Discovery employees have been evacuated from the building. Police confirm that the gunman may have some explosive devices with him.

Here’s a picture of James Lee: