Lee Building Tenants Recall Afternoon of Discovery Hostage Crisis

During a on Sept. 1, 2010, the Lee Building, at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road, was locked down with some employees who had to stay inside for hours, while others were caught outside.

Silver Spring Patch sat down with two employees of the law firm of Andalman & Flynn, one who was in the office—office manager Vivian Brown—and another who was locked out—partner Mary Ellen Flynn.

Silver Spring Patch: Where were you on the afternoon of Sept. 1, 2010?

Mary Ellen Flynn: I was attending a meeting in Rockville.

Vivian Brown: I was in our office in the Lee Building.

Silver Spring Patch: How did you first find out about the situation at the Discovery building?

Flynn: When I was done with the meeting, I looked at my phone and saw that I had several phone and text messages from my office and others informing me that there was a hostage situation at the Discovery building. My phone was on “silent” during my meeting.

Brown: I didn’t know anything was happening until about 1:30, but I wasn’t sure what was going on. As our server was down, we were not receiving emails from the building property manager who put the building on lockdown. I called down to see what was happening and informed them that we don’t have computer access right now and if there were any updates to please call me on the phone.

Silver Spring Patch: What was communication like that afternoon?

Flynn: I was able to communicate with people who were in my office by phone and text. 

Brown: Our computers were down at the time, but we were able to access some information via cell phones, and other employees who were not in the building would call us with some updates. We called various people at home or other offices to find out the status. 

Silver Spring Patch: How long were you on lockdown?

Brown: We were told that if you wanted to leave without your car, there would be a block of time in which to do so and to meet in a specified place and instructions would be given. A few people were able to leave after about three hours, but others were denied. In total, we were locked down for approximately four hours (if I recall correctly).

Silver Spring Patch: What is your recollection of the emotions in your office that afternoon?

Flynn: The people in the office seemed very calm, although they were anxious about being locked-down.

Brown: We were all concerned because we did not know where in the building the gunman was located and if in fact he began shooting if our building would be in danger. The media said that he appeared to have explosives, and we were concerned that the if he set them off, our building would probably be affected as well. 

For the most part, people remained calm, but there was some tension as we didn’t know how long we would have to be there and what the final outcome would be. As our building has a lot of glass in the front of it, we were told to stay in our suites and away from windows. But I don’t think anyone was concerned about him coming into our building. The building was basically surrounded, so the likelihood was if he tried to escape he would have been shot.

Silver Spring Patch: When were you finally taken off of lockdown, and what was the first thing you did?

Brown: We were told we needed to leave the building. We were told to meet at specific places throughout the building to exit, so we all prepared to do so. I made sure we were all out of our suite and followed the direction of the property manager.

Silver Spring Patch: Would you suggest any changes to existing emergency plans based on your experiences with the Discovery situation?

Flynn: I don’t feel that there is any need to develop any emergency plans because of this event. There was nothing more that the Lee Building management or the police could have done than what they did. They correctly told people to stay in the Lee Building until they felt it was safe for people to leave.

The Lee Building management kept the tenants apprised of what was happening through emails, and they answered all of our phone calls, realizing that we didn’t have email. Perhaps one improvement would have been to allow only one or two floors at a time to exit so that people weren’t stuck in their cars in the parking lot while waiting for the crowd to leave. 

Brown: I also think they could have come up with a better plan to allow us to leave. For those of us with cars in the garage, it took about 25 to 30 minutes to get out of the garage. Once you got out, there was no place to go as the police still had the streets blocked off. It made for horrible traffic congestion.

At that point, we were still not sure of the whereabouts of the gunman and now we were trapped in cars in plain view, feeling like sitting ducks. It wasn’t until I had finally cleared the area that I learned that the gunman had been killed.