BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Bakersfield Police Department was first on the scene when Anthony Scott-Searles-Harris entered the Chase Bank building on Chester Avenue beginning a dangerous 15-hour standoff, with multiple hostages.

Bakersfield police negotiators were face-to-face with Anthony Scott Searles-Harris for over 10 hours in the building.

Multiple lives would be changed forever when Searles-Harris, an ex-convict and registered sex offender, entered the chase bank building downtown reportedly with a bomb strapped to his chest.

He took 10 hostages, tied up five of them, and placed other suspected explosives on hostages.

Bakersfield police arrived within minutes of getting the call, and negotiators went inside, not knowing what they were walking into.

“There was a door with a partitioned window where they could see the suspect and they were communicating very close, face-to-face,” said Capt. Ryan Kroeker, who oversees and supports the department’s special operations division.

Kroeker said four negotiators were in the building the entire day, with one lead negotiator who stayed in the building even after the FBI took over.

“This is a high-stakes game. Our negotiators and our SWAT team operators were putting themselves within feet the suspect. They were willing to trade their lives and at least be there to help and get this situation resolved peacefully,” said Kroeker.

Negotiators could see Searles-Harris and the hostages, he also tied himself to one hostage during the entire ordeal. Searles-Harris made multiple demands — food and drinks, and the court file of his child sex abuse case, the case that convicted him.

BPD was able to negotiate two hostages release.

Kroeker said there were points officers discussed taking a shot to stop Searles-Harris.

“During our tenure there he remained calm, he remained collected, other than his verbal statements didn’t give us any need to take a shot.”

At one point, Searles-Harris asked to see his daughter.

“We spoke with his daughter, she was at the command post for a while and a lot of conversations were taking place as to whether or not we felt that would be advantageous to the end goal, the end state of what we were trying to reach, at least through our negotiations we made the decision that we were not going to introduce it at that point,” said Kroeker.

The FBI took over negotiations around 9 p.m., and around 4:30 a.m. the next day, the FBI shot and killed Searles-Harris, and rescued the remaining hostages unharmed.

“Our officers did not want to leave them. Period. We had to make the decision to supplement the team for the well-being of the total operation,” said Kroeker.

Kroeker also explained that Bakersfield investigators currently believe Searles-Harris’ motive was grievances with his previous child sex case and how it was handled. The FBI, however, says his motives are still under investigation.

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