OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:22 PM – Wednesday, June 3, 2026
A standoff at a downtown office building housing a Chase Bank branch came to a violent and dramatic end early Wednesday morning when Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel fatally shot the barricaded suspect, who had claimed to be armed with explosives.
The high-stakes crisis concluded with the safe tactical rescue of the remaining hostages who were held captive inside since Tuesday afternoon. The day before, on Tuesday at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time, authorities received calls about an active bomb threat at the four-story, dark-tinted glass building on 17th Street.
It was initially, and falsely, reported by a number of local outlets that the hostage incident occurred at the Chase Bank branch itself inside the building. JPMorgan Chase spokespeople officially corrected the record, clarifying that the bank branch itself was empty and that the actual standoff was confined to the second-floor offices of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools.
While the ground-floor Chase Bank branch was immediately evacuated and closed by management as a safety precaution when the police perimeter was established, investigators confirmed that the suspect never stepped foot inside the branch.
Upon arrival at the building, local authorities discovered that a male suspect had barricaded himself on the second floor with several community members, holding them as hostages. At the time, the man claimed to have a “bomb strapped to his body,” with other unconfirmed reports suggesting he may have been holding a “dead-man’s switch.” In a bomb threat, a dead-man’s switch is used as a threat to detonate the explosives if the perpetrator is killed or lets go of the trigger
Law enforcement immediately flooded the area, establishing a strict perimeter and executing mass evacuations of surrounding facilities, including Bakersfield Police Headquarters, City Hall North, City Hall South and the local development services building.
As the afternoon bled into the night, the Bakersfield Police Department’s crisis negotiation team established telephone contact with the suspect, initiating a painstaking process to secure the release of the captives. The tense negotiations yielded incremental progress at first, with authorities successfully orchestrating the safe release of one hostage in the early evening, followed by a second individual just after 9:00 p.m.
While local officials publicly confirmed that the remaining captives, who have since been released, appeared to be in good health during the ordeal, a nearby business owner’s livestream captured a chilling window view of a captive woman rocking back and forth in distress before dropping out of sight, followed later by hands waving frantically for help. The tactical stalemate finally fractured at 4:20 a.m. on Wednesday when the situation escalated into an officer-involved shooting.
According to a statement released by the Bakersfield Police Department, FBI personnel from the bureau’s Sacramento field office — who was dispatched to assist with the crisis — reportedly engaged the suspect, fatally shooting him at the scene. Local police emphasized that their own officers did not deploy lethal force during the final resolution.
Immediately following the gunfire, heavily armed tactical units breached the room and escorted the remaining hostages out of the building to waiting emergency medical personnel. Authorities confirmed that all of the surviving hostages were rescued completely unharmed, though they were evaluated at the scene for psychological trauma and physical exhaustion.
The Suspect
During a Wednesday press conference, Sid Patel, the FBI Special Agent in Charge for the Sacramento field office, officially identified the suspect as Anthony Scott Searle-Sharris, 41.
Along with his name, federal and local officials released several details about his background and what went on inside the building.
- Criminal and Military History: Authorities stated that Searle-Sharris was “no stranger to law enforcement.” He was a “registered sex offender with a prior criminal record” and had been dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army after going AWOL (absent without leave) between 2006 and 2007. “Searles-Harris has a long rap sheet, including two sex act convictions in 2014. He was convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age and oral copulation with a minor under 14 years of age,” New York Post reported.
- Conditions: Investigators disclosed that Searle-Sharris had tied up at least five of the ten hostages and explicitly claimed to have attached explosive devices to several of them.
- Hostage Situation: In total, he held 10 people hostage. The standoff actually took place on the second floor of the building, which houses the Kern County Superintendent’s Office — above the Chase Bank branch. The incident occured inside the general building, but the bank branch itself wasn’t where he was holding the hostages. Additionally, while Searle-Sharris claimed to have strapped explosives to himself and several of his hostages, the devices were entirely fake.
- The Tactical Breach: The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team made the decision to breach the building and neutralize Searle-Sharris at 4:20 a.m. only after their intensive efforts to negotiate the release of the remaining eight hostages completely broke down.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news alerts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
What do YOU think? Click here to jump to the comments!
Sponsored Content Below
Be the first to comment