( CNN ) -- The gunman who held three people hostage at the Discovery Channel headquarters was once convicted of smuggling an illegal immigrant into the country from Mexico . In 2003 , James Lee , pleaded guilty to smuggling a woman from Tijuana , according to documents from a California federal court . He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the crime . In court documents , Lee admitted to smuggling immigrants at least three times and being paid for it . This revelation comes in stark contrast to the manifesto Lee left where he railed against immigrants . Lee was killed by police Wednesday after the attacker held three people hostage for hours in the Discovery Channel offices in Silver Spring , Maryland . Lee was linked to a manifesto that was posted on the Internet , a source close to the investigation told CNN . The writer blasted immigration , farming , weapons of mass destruction , automotive pollution `` and the whole blasted human economy . '' On immigration , he said : `` Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that . Find solutions to stopping it , '' the statement said . The hostages were unharmed in the Wednesday incident . Police on Thursday said that Lee had two starter pistols that he used during the standoff , and not handguns as previously thought . Montgomery County Fire Chief Richard Bowers said that authorities recovered four devices from the scene , and an additional four devices from a residence . He described the objects only as `` devices , '' and said that they were rendered safe and detonated .
In 2003 , James Lee , pleaded guilty to smuggling a woman from Mexico . He was sentenced to life in prison and is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado. Police killed Lee Wednesday ; the hostages were unharmed .