seconds they have before she

1st, 2010. >> good evening, i'm terry mo moran. and we're going to begin with the day of the terror at the discovery channel. the gunman shot dead after he took hostages at the channel's headquarters outside washington, d.c. this afternoon. james lee was his name. lee had a history of harassing discovery. he was arrested during a one-man protest of the channel in 2008. and now, evidence of lee's murky motivations is beginning to emerge, including an online man any fes to. in it, he cites and author who we talk to tonight. john donvan has our report. >> reporter: say this for the discovery network. locked down for long hours today, a gunman somewhere in the guts of it headquarters, police

taking a position outside, hostages grabbed in its lob bi, everyone who could, evacuating -- >> move away from the building. >> reporter: hundreds of employees, plus the chirp in the full-time day care. amid this confusion, amid this uncertainty, say this for discovery, the channel never blinked. >> "american chopper." >> reporter: this is what was on its air through the entire afternoon. uninterrupted. "american chopper." even as news choppers hovered overhead and details emerged about the gunman, said to be this man, james lee. a self-styled environmental anarchist who had harassed discovery in the past. arrested in 2008 after hurling thousands of dollars into the air outside discovery, setting off a frenzy. his complaint being, apparently, that discovery does not focus enough programming on saving the

planet, by not, and this is something he wrote -- patrick e erevine remembers seeing lee. >> he believed that discovery was propagating the exploitation of the planet by promoting procreation and also he referred to them many times as committing war crimes. >> reporter: lee's myspace page cites as inspiration, a book called "my ishmael," a novel about an intelligent gorilla who shares wisdom of the human race. it's earned its author of small and devoted following. >> i don't know why he happened to latch onto my book in particular. it's not easy to see how james lee did take away what he took away from it. it's such a distortion of the book. >> reporter: the thing is, while

outside, none of us could see much of anything. inside, they had security cameras going and david levy could see that it was lee and he recognized him. when you heard who it was, given this guy's got a track record of harassing, was your sense of, oh, this guy again? >> yeah, it was. we were able to identify him right away. so, we had his picture on our security bulletin board. we knew who he was right away. and we were very familiar with him. and i wasn't surprised but it was still very scary situation. >> reporter: there were three hostages. two discovery employees and a security guard. but the police were not sharing any but the most basic details. they knew that lee seemed to be carrying explosives. >> he was wearing what appeared to be metallic canister devices on his front and back. we are in negotiations with him

currently. the negotiations are ongoing. >> reporter: we don't know what they said in those conversations, but the talking apparently went on for hours. and then after four hours, something happened to end this. we know that not because we could see it but because we could hear it. barely. and when i say barely, we're going to play you the tape now. listen, very closely. our camera was on the building that beeping is a crosswalk signal. those voices, the voices of reporters. but then, this sound. it's a single gunshot. listen again. and not 15 minutes later, the police approached the media's gathering point and said, quite simply -- >> approximately ten minutes ago, the suspect was shot by police officers. >> reporter: the hostages were not hurt. they ran as the police burst in and shot lee, which they did, they explained later, because he

had made a threatening move. >> he pulled out the handgun that he came in with and pointed it at one of the hostages. >> reporter: and that was it. crisis diffused. >> let me just say, on behalf of the company, thank you very much to law enforcement and montgomery county fire and rescue. all of our employ yeeps are accounted for. >> reporter: not that it's over yet. inside, still those boxes and knapsacks, which this fire department official told me could still be bombs. so, they would need to be checked out. >> we may send the robot in to disrupt the package or we may send a bomb technician in, in flak, to destabilize -- >> reporter: it's going to be dark -- this is going to take hours. >> yeah, there's no time frame on this. and there's certainly no rush. >> reporter: so, that's where it stands now. bomb experts working through the night inside this building, actually detonating some of the devices lee left behind. but the programming still

uninterrupted. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in silver spring, maryland. >> the discovery channel's horrific day. a statement was released tonight from one of the hostages, jim mcnulty, a senior writer at tlc. quote, i thank you all for your concern, he said. our thanks to john donvan for that report. and when we come back, unprecedented footage of a crisis during brain surgery. we capture a doctor's amazing reaction to the life or death emergency on the operating table. i have a drug problem. 10% of the world's medicine is counterfeit. affecting over a billion people a year. on a smarter planet, we're building intelligence into things. so we can follow this medicine from the factory to the distribution center... to the pharmacy... and know it's the real thing. keeping counterfeits off the shelves. in places like the u.s... tanzania... and india. smarter medicine is safer medicine.

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even when everything goes as planned, brain surgery requires unfaltering skill in the hands of the surgeon. and unwavering trust on the part of the patient. but when we followed carol into the operating room, nothing went as planned. she went to the doctor, complaining of neck pain and was suddenly told she had a dangerous brain aneurism. now, we want to warn you that some of the video you're about to see may be upsetting for some viewers here. >> oh, isn't this fun? this early in the morning. >> reporter: there is a ticking time bomb in carol's head. >> fun, fun, fun. >> reporter: she learned about a brain aneurism while seeing a doctor for neck pain. >> it will start here, come up to the midline here. >> there's the man. >> you remember me? >> that's the man that's going to fix me. >> you excited to get this done? >> oh, yes, you have no idea. >> sleep and get this thing out of my head.

>> reporter: the prescheduled surgery to fix her aneurism should be routine for dr. bales, but even a routine procedure can quickly become an emergency. >> so, this is a view from the front. and that maize of vessels is this aneurism and there's a weakness right here. and, you never know when blood coming up from the heart is going to swirl around and one day rupture through. >> reporter: what is an aneurism? >> it is a weakness on the wall of an artery and may be up to 5% of all people have them. and a few of them rupture every year. >> reporter: carol's aneurism is not considered an urgent threat, but what dr. bales doesn't know is just how fragile her ballooning blood vessel actually is. >> here's the dye, so you can see the space. okay, i think we see the top of the aneurism. >> reporter: in that tiny space, in the next few minutes, something happened, and carol's

life was on the line. you are about to witness one of the dangers of brain surgery, something never before seen on television. >> there it is. yeah, that round thing is aneurism. it really is very deep in her brain. well, in carol's surgery, her aneurism was found to be extremely thin. extremely fragile. this is the kind that ruptures. that thing is really thin, isn't it? >> reporter: working in the area around her aneurism, suddenly -- it bursts, and it's instantly a matter of life and death for carol. dr. bales has about 180 seconds to save her. >> give me the clip. all right. now, the aneurism has a very thin part there, which has ruptured. that was her dangerous part. give me the angle clip. >> reporter: keeping his cool, dr. bales doesn't convey what a serious crisis he's in. every second counts.

carol is on the brink. >> i had to get it fixed and i had to get it fixed real quickly. >> reporter: isn't there a moment where you say, oh, no. >> yeah, you have those thoughts, but you can't linger past a second or two with those thoughts. >> reporter: dr. bales must keep his focus. quick, steady moves, he is attempting to clamp the aneurism. he's working to save carol's life right before our eyes. what happens if you can't stop the bleeding? >> well, if you couldn't stop it, the situation would quickly get out of hand and the patient would have a major stroke or die. >> reporter: carol's burst aneurism is a surprising twist for the seasoned neuro surgeon, but relying on his experience and a clamp, he manages to stop the bleeding in exactly 56 seconds. incredibly, dr. bales has saved carol's life. >> i've got the vessel blocked

off. the aneurism is sealed off. can you believe that? it had a very thin part right there. did you see it? >> reporter: carol was closer than dr. bales originally thought to suffering a fatal ka as the trophy. >> a rupture during surgery is a difficult thing to handle. i think we handled it. >> reporter: you saved her life. >> we did. and she saved her life by making the informed decision to have this treated, because this was an extreme ly thin-walled aneurism that in my opinion was going to rupture sooner than later. good morning. you look beautiful. maybe more beautiful than before. >> oh, boy, aren't you a charmer. isn't he a charmer? >> listen, you did great. that aneurism was really a dangerous one. much more than i thought. just working around it was enough to make it bleed. >> i figured it was that way.

i was getting more and more pain every day. >> reporter: well, for the full story, and more of dr. bales remarkable cases, be sure to watch "secrets of your mind" tomorrow night at 10:00 on abc. and when we come back, what's that itch? don't look now, it's the attack of the super-lice. seep how you can protect yourself and your children. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

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to live your passion by choosing from t never-dreamed-possible prizes. from a customized v.i.p. vacion, to a hollywood red carpet experience, to cooking with a celebrity chef, and more. find details on specially marked boxes of cheerios. why cheerios? because whatever you love doing, you'll need a healthy heart to do it. ♪ >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> okay, now we've got a story that's definitely not for the squeamish. head lice. that's right. head lice. it's a taboo topic.

a condition that can cause shame and frustration and a whole lot of scratching. to make matters worse, these parasites have evolved now, and old remedies are often ineffective. so, in case of an outbreak, what are you going to do? in an encore presentation here, jeremy hubbard finds out. >> reporter: welcome to one of the most expensive children's hair salons in cheek west los angeles. the typical bill, about 300 bucks. a deep tab that lordes doesn't bristle at paying. >> reporter: buzz she understand this? >> no, she thinks she has buggies in her hair. >> reporter: she's not entirely grossed out? >> no, she doesn't get it yet. >> reporter: the traumatized mom brought her daughter here after the school called a few minutes ago, saying gab yell is infested with lice. >> i called her dad and he was like, oh, my god, how did that happen? >> reporter: she is now in the hands of professional it in-pickers.

they're picking hundreds of it ins and thousands of eggs from the heads of itchy children. fighting on the front lines of an unrelenting affliction now being called super-lice. >> they call it super-lice because it's kind of like antibiotics to humans. when a product is misused, a very toxic product is overused consistently on a bug, your building up a pretty strong bug, hence super-lice. >> reporter: the so-called super-lice have developed, growing increasingly resistant to the $60 million worth of that pianos, creams and chemicals we use every year to combat the parasites. >> everybody is looking for an easy way to do it, take a pill, take one treatment, get rid of them. but it's the story of evolution. you're going to involve resistance. >> reporter: one chemical treatment has been banned in california for health and environmental concerns. several other states have looked into bank it, too. this scourge thrives.

in the u.s., up to 12 million become infested every year, often kicked out of class until the knits dnits disappear. and with the new school year beginning comes the threat of more lice infestations. no one is immune. >> they don't discriminate. it's the beverly hills program, it's the upper east side problem. it's like the common cold. >> reporter: even celebrities and their children get them. >> panicked, went online, he's like, she has it! >> reporter: courteney cox arquette talked about it on "the tonight show." >> i got it and it really wasn't so funny anymore. >> but you don't have it now. >> i don't have it now, but i tell you. >> reporter: but because there is still such a stigma, there's the hair whisperer. that is what amy calls herself. >> hi. >> hi, i'm amy. my son got it in kindergarten. there's a place you can go.

you can have a career of this? i love to pick. that's like my thing. >> reporter: now, the lice killer gets up to 15 calls a day from panic-stricken parents, quietly slipping into homes without anyone ever knowing, so she can save the parents the shame of admitting their children's scalps are covered in bugs. >> i don't know how we get rid of that stigma, because people still say, well, you know, i don't want to tell everyone. and that's how you get more lice. if everyone would come out of the closet, we would be so much better off. there would be less lice. it's not the end of the world. no one is going to die from it. it should be taken care of. >> reporter: she takes a fine toothed comen to the bugs, she's busting out the newest weapon. this heat machine that uses hot air to burn lice to death. total bill, about 300 bucks. she says a single treatment delouses a child entirely, and it's much safer, she says, than the gasoline some parents

desperately dump on their kids head to kill the bugs. there is, she says, another way to prevent lice in the first place, if you can stomach it. don't watch your hair. >> yeah, better to have dirty hair. >> reporter: tell me about that. >> lice like to grab onto really clean hair. if your hair is greasy, it's stuck together, and they can't grab onto one single hair. i tell people to avoid getting lice, if you can have gross hair, it's better. >> reporter: so, wash twice a week, maybe? >> yeah, or not at all. >> reporter: the ick factor seems to be the most alarming thing about these bugs. sure, they're lugly, but the reality is, they're fairly harmless, and this doctor at ucla says you basically need to rub heads to spread them. >> if you had lice or if i had lice, they're not going to jump across from one to the other. so, that's not going to happen. >> reporter: that's why children, like daniel here, who play and wrestle and knock heads, are so often infested.

>> like little ovals with legs. >> reporter: and they're nasty. this is his third bout with the bugs. >> i guess i have some misconceptions about how you get it. i don't know if it's sharing a baseball cap at little league or, you know, the first time he got it, we were making him shower, like, twice a day, but it came back again, so -- i'm just not sure. >> reporter: he's been tortured by them. >> yeah, absolutely. >> reporter: so often, the attempts of well intentioned parents just don't work. this little girl's folks used over the counter remedies for two months but the bugs are still here, in startling numbers. >> get over the counter, prescriptions, and they'll be struggling with it at home. usually, they hear about us and that's when they come in and we take care of it for them. >> reporter: and with no shortage of mortified parents and super-lice, with a stubborn are to live, lice specialists are opening up across the country. at the hair fair rips lice salon, business is booming.

maria has already opened five salons across the country, and hopes to put one in every state. >> we really kind of want to be the starbucks of head lice removal and we're the first to market in this. so, now there are tons of businesses like ours. >> reporter: her success will rely on repeat business. >> are you itching now? >> yes, i am, as a matter of fact. i was just thinking, my head is itching, too. >> reporter: remember lordes? odds are, she'll be back. since her daughter is infested, there's about a 90% chance she'll get them, too. is this a parents worst nightmare? >> i think so. >> reporter: i'm jeremy hubbard for "nightline" in los angeles. >> and that's head lice news. sorry. thanks to jeremy hubbard for that. when we come back, the latest on hurricane earl. but first, jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next. >> jimmy: tonight, hayden christensen, criss angel, ozzy osbourne, the obama hole in one,

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