FBI Kills Hostage-Taker in Bakersfield Standoff; All Hostages Safe

A man who held hostages inside a downtown Bakersfield office building for approximately 12 hours was shot and killed by FBI agents early Wednesday morning, according to police. The hostages were found unharmed inside the building, which houses a Chase Bank branch and a school district office, the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.

The suspect was killed in an officer-involved shooting involving FBI personnel.

The standoff began Tuesday afternoon when officers responded to a bomb threat at the Chase Bank building, a four-story office building with dark-tinted glass windows. Police said the man had barricaded himself inside with several people.

The department's crisis negotiation team spoke with the suspect by telephone, and two hostages were released Tuesday night.

Nearby buildings, including City Hall and police headquarters just a block away, were evacuated, and some roads were temporarily closed. Bakersfield, a city of about 380,000 residents, is the seat of largely rural Kern County and is about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said the bank branch is on the ground floor.

Officers established a perimeter around the area and warned the public to stay away. "We have every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible," Bakersfield police Sgt.

Eric Celedon said Tuesday. Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad's Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family's tattoo shop when he started getting calls about the bomb threat.

"I went into the bank's parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I've ever seen in this town," Davidson said.

His livestream captured through a window a woman rocking back and forth Tuesday night before crouching below the window; later, two hands could be seen waving.