Police said 10 hostages were found unharmed after the overnight crisis inside a downtown office building.
BAKERSFIELD, CA — FBI agents shot and killed a 41-year-old man early Wednesday after he held 10 people hostage for more than 15 hours inside a downtown Bakersfield building, police said.
The hostages were found unharmed after the standoff ended about 4:20 a.m. inside a four-story building at Chester Avenue and 17th Street that houses a Chase Bank branch and offices for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. Authorities identified the suspect as Anthony Scott Searles-Harris. Police said the investigation remained active Wednesday, with streets around the building closed while officers processed the scene and bomb specialists checked for possible hazards.
The standoff began around 1 p.m. Tuesday when Bakersfield police responded to a report of a bomb threat at the Chase Bank building. Officers arrived to find Searles-Harris barricaded inside with several people, police said. The department’s crisis negotiation team reached him by phone and spent hours trying to end the standoff without more violence. Bakersfield police Sgt. Eric Celedon said during the incident that officers had “every single resource” available to bring the situation to the safest possible end. Two hostages were released Tuesday night after negotiations, but officials said talks later stalled.
Authorities said the hostage crisis took place on the second floor of the building, where the superintendent’s office is located. FBI officials said Searles-Harris took 10 people hostage, tied up five of them and claimed to have attached explosives to himself and to some hostages. Bomb technicians later examined the devices and determined they did not pose the threat he claimed, officials said. Police said one hostage had a phone for part of the standoff and was able to relay information until the phone died. All hostages were evaluated at the scene after they were freed and later reunited with family members.
Officials said Searles-Harris did not appear to have targeted Chase Bank or bank employees. Bakersfield Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Blakemore said the suspect had concerns about how a previous criminal case and sentencing had been handled. During the standoff, he demanded to see his daughter, but officials said no communication took place between him and the child. Sid Patel, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Sacramento field office, said Searles-Harris had a history of violence, was a registered sex offender and served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2007 before being dishonorably discharged for going absent without leave.
The FBI took tactical control of the scene Tuesday night after the suspect requested the agency’s involvement, officials said. Patel said FBI personnel decided to enter the building after weighing several factors, including stalled negotiations, the suspect’s erratic behavior and concern that one hostage with diabetes needed medical care. FBI personnel entered the building before dawn Wednesday and shot Searles-Harris. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No Bakersfield police officers fired shots, police said. Patel called the crisis “a horrific event” and credited local officers for keeping pressure on the situation through the night.
The standoff shut down part of downtown Bakersfield for hours. Police evacuated nearby buildings, including City Hall and police headquarters, and closed streets around the bank building while SWAT teams, negotiators, bomb squad members and federal agents worked at the scene. The response also reached beyond the immediate block, with investigators checking a location in Oildale as part of the case. The disruption came as voters were casting ballots in California’s primary election. A downtown election night event for state Assembly Member Jasmeet Bains, a Democrat running for Congress, was canceled because of the law enforcement operation.
Witnesses described a large and tense police presence near the building as the standoff stretched into the night. Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, said he was at his family’s tattoo shop about a block away when calls began coming in about the bomb threat. “This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said. His livestream showed moments from outside the building, including movement near a window while officers held the perimeter. Officials did not release a full account Wednesday of what happened inside the room before agents entered.
By Wednesday afternoon, authorities said all hostages were safe, the suspect was dead and the scene remained under investigation. Police said road closures and delays near Chester Avenue and 17th Street were expected to continue while federal and local investigators reviewed evidence from the building.
Author note: Last updated June 3, 2026.