GREENWOOD — A former managing editor of a Mississippi newspaper was among those on lockdown after a gunman took hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., this week.

Jenny Gaines, whose name was Jenny Humphryes when she was employed by the Greenwood Commonwealth, works in a building that's across the street from the Discovery Channel headquarters. Her building was placed on lockdown after the incident began Wednesday.

Gaines told the Greenwood Commonwealth she had just finished a meeting and was ready to head to lunch. As the doors to the elevator opened, she noticed her boss and a few others who were supposed to be on their way to a meeting still in the lobby.

"They weren't being allowed to leave the building," she said. "We were told a guy was holding someone hostage in the Discovery building."

They soon heard two gunshots.

James J. Lee, who had explosives strapped to himself, was shot and killed by a SWAT team officer, Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said. The shooting ended a four-hour standoff.

Gaines said she was safe, but she never imagined experiencing something like this when she moved to from Mississippi to Maryland in December 2009.

"It was very disturbing," she said. "Normally this is something you only see on TV."