NBC did not reveal the conversation until the hostage situation had been resolved.
Police spent several hours negotiating with the gunman, James Jay Lee, who was upset about the network's programming, after he burst into the suburban Washington building about 1 p.m. waving a handgun and with canisters strapped to his body.
Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said one explosive device detonated on the gunman's body when they shot him, and they were working to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks he also had with him were explosives.
The 1,900 people who work in the building were able to get out safely.
Manger said officers were monitoring Lee on building security cameras and tactical officers moved in when they saw him pull out the handgun and point it at one of the hostages.
Lee had barricaded on the first floor of the building in a complex.
"He's a little nuts," said Yaya Fanusie, an acquaintance of Lee's who sometimes hung out with the activist at a Borders bookstore just down the street from the Discovery Channel headquarters.
"He said that Discovery is supposed to be protecting the environment, but they are not, they are just making movies," said Fanusie, adding that Lee believes that humans should stop procreating because mankind is destroying the Earth. Full story
