Suspect who took 10 people hostage in California standoff has been shot
and killed, police say
[June 04, 2026]
By JULIE WATSON, JOHN SEEWER and HALLIE GOLDEN
A man was shot and killed by the FBI early Wednesday after taking 10
school employees hostage inside a Southern California office building
and warning that he had strapped explosives to himself and some of the
hostages, police said.
Authorities stormed the building in downtown Bakersfield overnight,
ending a nearly 16-hour standoff during which the suspect tied up half
the hostages, police said.
The hostages — employees of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools —
were found unharmed inside the building that also houses a bank,
Bakersfield Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Blakemore said.
“Throughout the night, their families questioned whether or not they
would be seen again but we are very grateful for the outcome,” Blakemore
said during a news conference Wednesday.
Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, 41, was shot and killed around 4:20 a.m.,
according to Sid Patel, special agent in charge in the FBI’s Sacramento
office. Authorities said he was an Army veteran who was dishonorably
discharged, had a history of trouble with law enforcement and was a
registered sex offender.
Searles-Harris was armed with explosives and barricaded himself within
the second floor of the building, where the county's superintendent of
schools’ office is located, according to law enforcement. Authorities
were testing the devices Wednesday, but Patel said they do not appear to
be a concern.
One of the hostages was able to communicate with law enforcement using
her phone until her battery died, Patel said. She was diabetic and
didn’t have her medicine so officials knew she was at risk, he said.
“I’m sure there’ll be mental scars that they’re living with, and we’ll
have our victim specialist to help them,” Patel said.
While authorities declined to discuss details about how they ended the
standoff or the motive behind it, Blakemore said some of the demands
Searles-Harris made involved asking for materials from an earlier case.
"He had concerns related to how his previous case had been handled and
what the aftermath of that was, the sentencing and those kinds of
things,” Blakemore said, without specifying details.
California Department of Justice and court records show Searles-Harris
was on the state’s sex offender registry due to convictions in 2014 for
sexual crimes related to a child under 14 years of age. Those records
show he was released from prison in 2018.
Defense attorney Arturo Revelo said he represented Searles-Harris in
that case and described him as a disturbed man who believed the
government was out to get him.
He said police asked him to help Tuesday during the hostage situation,
but he was never allowed to talk to Searles-Harris and instead had to
make two videos saying he was there with the case’s documents and would
assist him in anyway he could.
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FBI agents respond after a man barricaded himself inside a building
with hostages Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Bakersfield, Calif. (AP
Photo/David Dennis)
Revelo said he was told that Searles-Harris would let the hostages
go in exchange for the documents but he did not see that happen
while he was there.
FBI officials said Searles-Harris served about a year in the Army
before being dishonorably discharged in 2007 for going AWOL.
Court records in Kern County, California, show Searles-Harris filed
a petition to prevent domestic violence, and was involved in divorce
proceedings that began in 2009 and note a young child, as well as a
fight for guardianship years later in which he was listed as an
objector.
During the news conference, Blakemore said he was aware of videos
Searles-Harris had apparently posted criticizing the sheriff’s
office and claiming he was innocent of his previous sex crimes
convictions. He said the videos were being reviewed, but the
department had no plans to investigate the claims of innocence.
It wasn't clear why Searles-Harris targeted the school district
office.
“What unfolded was undoubtedly a terribly frightening and unsettling
experience, and the composure our employees demonstrated throughout
the 16-hour ordeal was extraordinary,” John Mendiburu, the county
schools superintendent, said in a statement.
The standoff began early Tuesday afternoon, when officers responded
to a call of a bomb threat at the Chase Bank building, a four-story
office building with dark-tinted glass windows in Bakersfield, a
city of about 380,000 residents about 100 miles (160 kms) northeast
of Los Angeles.
The police department’s crisis negotiation team talked with Searles-Harris
by phone, and he released two hostages Tuesday.
Authorities evacuated buildings nearby, including City Hall and the
police headquarters that are just a block away.
More than 100 FBI personnel assisted, including two SWAT teams, bomb
technicians and crisis negotiation teams, Patel said. A hostage
rescue team was deployed from its headquarters on the East Coast, he
said.
___
Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Kathy
McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Claudia Lauer in
Philadelphia contributed.
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