FBI agents fatally shot a man after he entered a California building containing a bank and a school superintendent office and held 10 hostages for over 15 hours, authorities said.
The standoff began at approximately 1 p.m. local time Tuesday when police responded to a report of a bomb threat at a Chase Bank branch in Bakersfield, CBS News reported. Officials said the hostage situation took place on the building’s second floor where the Kent County Superintendent of Schools Office (KCSO) is located. FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento field office Sid Patel said the suspect was Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, 41, and added that the FBI’s hostage rescue team “neutralized” him at 4:20 a.m. local time. (RELATED: Gunmen Attack Armored Van In Fiery Highway Robbery Straight Out Of Movie)
The KCSO noted it’s the owner of the building and Chase Bank leased out first floor space. Officers showed up to discover a man was barricaded inside the building and multiple individuals were able to get away, police said. The man held 10 individuals, all employed by the KCSO, hostage and tied up five, Patel to the press Wednesday. The suspect allegedly said he had a bomb and had placed multiple explosives on hostages.
Police said one hostage was released prior to 5 p.m. Tuesday and a second was secured after 9 p.m. the same day, according to local station KBAK. Negotiations faltered and the FBI took control of the matter at 9:02 p.m., Fox11 News reported. Patel said the failure of further talks prompted them to storm the building, CBS News reported. Authorities said all the remaining hostages were safely rescued following the shooting and none of them suffered injuries during the incident, https://dailycaller.com/2026/06/04/fbi-hostage-taker-dead-standoff-bakersfield-california/
Hostage situation in Southern California bank ends after suspect shot dead by FBI, Bakersfield police say. https://t.co/tF7ikndyaz
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 3, 2026
Searles-Harris served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2007 and was dishonorably discharged for going absent without leave, according to Patel. The agent alleged that the suspect was “no stranger to law enforcement.” He was accused of sex acts with a child under 14 years old in 2014 and reportedly is on the sex offender registry, ABC News reported.
Law enforcement officials have not publicly disclosed a motive for the incident. However, local news outlet KGET reported that a witness inside the bank alleged they heard the suspect say, “it’s a bad day to be at the bank.”
Authorities continue to investigate the incident.