Overview
- The standoff ended early Wednesday when FBI personnel fatally shot the barricaded suspect and officers recovered all remaining hostages unharmed.
- The incident began Tuesday afternoon after police responded about 1 p.m. to a reported bomb threat at a downtown Bakersfield building that houses a Chase branch and county student services offices.
- Local negotiators secured the release of two people Tuesday night while the FBI assumed tactical operations overnight and its Hostage Rescue Team entered the building at about 4:20 a.m. Wednesday.
- Authorities identified the suspect as 41-year-old Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, who had prior violent convictions and was a registered sex offender, and investigators executed related search warrants in Oildale.
- A multiagency inquiry continues into the suspect’s motive, whether claimed explosive devices were real, the FBI’s use-of-force decision, and support for the rescued hostages and affected downtown residents.