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Subscribe to RSSAn Alabama state senator and a representative who have been in touch with the family of the 5-year-old boy being held hostage in a bunker discuss the case.
The family of an Alabama boy abducted from his school bus and being held in an underground bunker is "holding on by a thread," a state representative said Thursday as the hostage drama stretched into a third day.
The boy, a 5-year-old named Ethan, is receiving necessary medication and appears to be calm and doing well, a state senator said.
A source close to the investigation told NBC News on Thursday that authorities had also managed to get crayons and coloring books to the boy.
The child was kidnapped Tuesday after school when a man stormed the bus and presented a note demanding that two children be handed over to him, the source said. When the driver refused, the man shot and killed him and grabbed the boy, authorities said. Twenty-one other children on the bus were able to escape.
On Wednesday, a source close to the investigation identified the suspected gunman to NBC News as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, of Midland City, describing him as a loner and a survivalist who "does not trust the government" and holds "anti-American views."
Hostage negotiators were still talking to the man in his bunker through a PVC pipe, but after a second night ended with no sign of progress in negotiations, Alabama state Rep. Steve Clouse told the TODAY show: "We are all just hoping this can come to a safe end."
He said the boy's family was "holding on by a thread."
The Dothan Eagle quoted a neighbor, Michael Creel, as describing the bunker as a "homemade bomb shelter," roughly 4 feet wide, 6 feet long and 8 feet deep and covered by several feet of sand. James Arrington, police chief in neighboring Pinckard, where the bus was assaulted, told reporters Thursday that Dykes had been known to stay in it for as long as eight days.
Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith told TODAY that negotiators had delivered medication that the boy needed, provided by his mother, and that he was believed to be calm and doing well. His mother has "taken comfort in that," she said.
In the remote town of Midland City, just north of the Alabama-Florida state line, people prayed for the boy's safe release.
"Right now, the whole town seems like they're just in a mourning stage," convenience store manager Carl McKenzie told NBC station WSFA of Montgomery. "I would go take that child's place if I could, just to get him out of danger."
Bus driver praised
Authorities offered no hints to the gunman's motive. Clouse said the kidnapping appeared random.
Hostage negotiators have been talking to Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, who is alleged to have abducted a kindergartner from his school bus Tuesday. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
Read more: Hostage suspect was loner, missed court appearance
The gunman burst onto the yellow school bus about 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said. When the driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, tried to stop him from taking children off the bus, he was shot and killed. The source close to the investigation told NBC News that four spent bullets were found at the scene.
Read more: Slain bus driver remembered as hero
The county school system said 21 students had made it off the bus safely and praised Poland as a fallen hero. But the gunman made off with the one child, possibly because the boy fainted during the siege, according to WSFA.
Clouse said gratitude was being expressed for Poland's actions, telling TODAY: "He started the day as a bus driver and ended it a hero."
Linda Williams, a county tax clerk whose cousin was married to Poland, described him to NBC News as "a good Christian man" who was active in church.
"It says in the Bible the meek will inherit the Earth," brother-in-law Melvin Skipper told the Eagle. "He was the meekest man I knew."
Poland's neighbor Hilburn Benton told the newspaper that Poland refused to accept payment for work on his yard two years ago. "He told me, "You're my friend and you're my neighbor. I'm not charging you a dime,'" Benton recalled.
Suspect faced previous charges
Dykes had been due in court Wednesday morning to face a misdemeanor charge of menacing James E. Davis Jr., a neighbor who accused him of firing a pistol at his truck Dec. 10. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that the dispute was over a makeshift speed bump.
Dale County Board of Education
Charles Albert Poland Jr., who had driven a school bus for Dale County, Ala., since 2009, was shot and killed.
Rhonda Wilbur told WSFA that Dykes was a longtime source of concern in the neighborhood because "he has been like a time bomb waiting for him to go off." Wilbur told reporters that Dykes had beaten her dog to death with a lead pipe.
In addition to the county sheriff's department, the FBI and a SWAT team were on the scene. A woman answering the phone at the Midland City Police Department said the FBI had taken over and that local police were no longer involved. Authorities ordered people living nearby to leave during the standoff.
Schools in Dale County and the nearby city of Ozark were closed for the rest of the week. Dale County schools said counselors would be available to help students, including those who were on the bus.
M. Alex Johnson, Gabe Gutierrez, Isolde Raftery and Alastair Jamieson of NBC News contributed to this report.
The Dothan Eagle via AP
A man boarded this stopped school bus in the town of Midland City, Ala., on Tuesday afternoon and shot the driver when he refused to let a child off the bus. The bus driver died.
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If I was responding to an incident like this, my first thought would be, Were are the children and are they ok. Why was the child kidnap, out of those children in the bus, why was he the only one? Second, lets find the child and third, negotiate with the person peacefully not commence firing. When I was responding to a family disturbance as a armed security officer, I check out the place first before going in, making sure there is no guns involved, or there is no one around to shoot my partner and I. then we proceed it to talk to the parties involved, after getting the information to logg it, the female said she was being abused, I did not see the bruses, then I called the cops and when they arrived, after them talking with her, she did not press any charges. That tough me a lesson, don't hussle it when you respond to a family disturbance and give it time to settle down.
That child was taken because he fainted in all of the commotion. This was not a family disturbance, the suspect is of no relation of the child.
Clearly the answer is to add bus drivers and kindergarteners to the list of those that should carry sidearms at all times. This is a sad state we're entering. If this is where society is headed, perhaps holding onto our guns with both hands is the prudent thing to do. It would certainly help steady our aim.
Both hands! Hell. We should strap them to our feet too, so we can be four times safer. Also, we can mount them to our vehicles because I hear the government likes to abduct law abiding citizens with black vans.
The answer is to clear the streets of crazy people. Put them ALL in a lock down mental hospital. Soon you will only see the occasional domestic dispute. Not the full blown crazy that we see in every one of these cases!
Well I'll be a SOB, he did not use a AR-15.... my God it was a hand gun that is used in 78% of all murder in the US
If we just arm all children, they'll be safer. C'mon Wayne. Say it. You know you want to.
Put a hog on a spit above the bunker, flood the bunker with gas and tell the occupants they can come out for lunch or not.
I guess with the liberals wanting to take guns away from law abiding citizen, we now are going to hear about every whack job across the country that uses a gun...
Nah, WhereHas... just close your ears like you and your culture have been doing since the sixties and you'll be fine. You still have that option.
No Charlie, WHEREHAS is right.
We should not listen to any of these stories, we should just listen to the NRA when they say " Guns are kind. Guns are good. Guns are our friends and you should get you child a gun as soon as they can lift one and they'll be safe. And if you don't own at least five guns you're un-American."
Do the gun-goobers realize that if you simply put a small mustache on the NRA's super-paranoid Wayne LaPierre, he's look EXACTLY like Adolf Hitler?
Seriously, look a his hair style, his face, the way he waves is arms, and his body movements-- when he goes off on one of his everyday, twisted, 2nd Amend "whine jobs"-- to his flock of arsenal-amassing sheeple!!
Bet this gun-crazy kidnapper has NRA stickers on his pickup truck, and Wayne's photo hanging in his silly bunker.
jajaja i have to reply to this, charly chaplin look more to hitler than wayne lapierre.
You do know that Hitler's disarmed all of the citizens prior to murdering them? Mentally ill people should not have guns as is this case.
Yep, another redneck with a gun, now who would have thought??? An old redneck with a gun, shoots innocent bus driver, IN FRONT OF, all those kids, NICE!!! We certainly do not need any laws against that, now do we??? NO WAY!!!! Lets all take our guns out and start shooting anyone that moves, thats the ticket we need, oh yeah!!!
I hope this dumbass redneck don't hurt the little boy, that would be another tragedy!!!
Bus driver, R.I.P.!!! I hope your family can find some peace, after this stupid act of violence???
He went on the bus and specifically chose a 5 year old. What are 5 year olds now - the victims du jour? Guaranteed we will now see fewer "women in jeopardy" movies and more "little children in jeopardy" movies.
I am just about as far from being a gun advocate as you can get but there are laws against shooting an innocent bus driver in front of a group of kids and then kidnapping and holding a child hostage: Murder, reckless endangerment, kidnapping and unlawful restraint are just a few that come to mind and I'm sure when the prosecutors get hold of this they will find a few more - and I pretty certain even Wayne Lapierre isn't going to argue about that.
LOL another idiot who knows nothing talking crap. pay attention son as i live in Alabama. the bus driver most likely caused all this as they are allowed by the police to drive as dangerous as they want and if you stop them to say slow down they call the cops and you get followed for 2 weeks then ticketed. i believe the old man was removing the children from the bus to make it safe then the gungho bus driver saw an opportunity and grabbed at the old man there for the old man panic and shot him then got scared grabbed a child and dug in. my kids don't ride the bus anymore got tired of them coming home bruised from the way the driver drove and yes i followed the buses (all of them) around for weeks and they all drive dangerously
OK, so "Death Penalty" for someone--Right?
Now, if we had a medical system that would treat all medical problems?----
So that would be a typical RED and BLUE response here on these blogs, right?
Let us try to get all our problems fixed, shall we, instead of the usual stupid discussions.
I just found out that the entire country of Japan (about 112 million) kill by guns (all guns ) A YEAR as many/few as the entire USA police force shoot and kill by guns every day (2.7),---instead of 36.537 total like here with all guns, so there is some real medicine for you all!
you wanna learn about japan? don't believe all you read (especially that bs crap about Toyota) take your self along vacation and go visit. it is a completely different world. as for me i found it relaxing and enjoyable. sure they have they crime but the reports by the news are not written with a specific agenda like ours. if you do decide to go be ready for a culture shock as in truth they are more free than we are.
When this deranged old fart finally comes out of his hidey-hole, blast his butt right out of his shoes as soon as he clears the door and the child is safe. GIve him at least four rounds, tit for tat. What a subhuman piece of filth!
Mymom....you're also a hypocrite....jerk! Don't make one statement then turn around and contradict yourself!
And how did your tiny little pea brain draw that conclusion, pinhead?
Your STATEMENT fool! Yep....every picture tells a story!! Are you sure you're old enough to be on here? Sounds like you have underlying problems! Like I said earlier....your mom DID raise a FOOL!
Not only do we need armed guards at school, we now need armed guards on the buses!
thats is part of what i am talking about, armed guards are the first obsticle of this lunatics.
and he is going down first before he gets his hands on the child
The moron squad got up early today. Boys, no one cares what you think. Back to your cells. Go annoy someone else. Before posting a comment pls learn how to spell. It reflects on what is between your ears.
as for me i bet the bus driver started it. have you seen how dangerous these Alabama bus drivers drive ? that kid is probably much safer rt now with that old man than he was in the bus or from the police around him now. all you gun control freaks out there lol. yea let em take your guns then only the trigger happy police and the other bad guys will have guns. i think that old man probable got tired off complaining about the buses reckless driving and then getting a ticket himself so he took it in his own hands. then after the bus driver acted stupid he shot him on accident in a panic then got scared and grabbed the child. i bet if i was there i could get him to release the child and surrender but knowing the police he will be shot dead and the kid will probably be wounded . they will of course blame the child's injury on the old man
Yesterday we hit 1,400 gun deaths since 12/14/12 - the day of the Sandy Hook Massacre. As of now you can make that 1,401 and counting. Conservative logic: Abortion kills the unborn: bad. Guns kill the born: freedom.
Is the NRA now going to start advocating that school bus drivers and lunchroom workers start carrying guns? According to NRA logic, it's a good guy with a gun that stops a bad guy with a gun. How about we also start arming school crossing guards, school secretaries - or just start arming the kids - that'll really solve the problem, right?
for your information diane reeves, the sandy hook shooting never really took place, it was an exercised conducted by FEMA and the people you seened where paid actor.
Pedrora: English as a second language? You're doing fairly well. May want to work on grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. Your thought process is a bit muddled however.
Let's see we arm airline pilots to stop a hijakcking and employ all kinds of security folks when people are flying but we will not do the same thing when they are on the ground. We spend the majority of our time on the gorund not in the air.
If we need armed folks to protect our children at school then we need armed folks taking them to and from school. This is not the first time this has happened.
I agree, for that purpose I would return to work as armed security officer.
So pump a sleeping gas down the pipe supplying air to the bunker, bust it open after a bit, and save the little guy! What the heck are you waiting for?
Oh, and after you save the child, leave the criminal there, permanently sealed in the bunker with no possible way to get out.
I agree and keep the lunatic of the media away, they are using the kids as shields in the communication channels.
I hate that the boy was taken, the bus driver was killed and the other children had to witness this but the gun is not the problem it is the person who used it. Do people really believe that giving up our guns is going to solve the problem. I'm sorry but criminals etc. are going to still have guns and YOU won't be able to protect or defend yourself, then what? This country has forgotten the principals and beliefs this country was built on. Seems to me we need to go back to how things were back then and raise our kids right. I've raised my child with manners, respect and he may not be perfect but he's a good man. Guns don't kill, it's the person that kills!
The fact is... if someone decides to kill another human being, there's really not much you can do about it. It doesn't matter the weapon. You can kill someone with a piece of string or a pencil. Should we ban those too? The answer is better mental health for our citizens who many simply do not respect life. You used to get that from home first, church and school. If parenting classes were mandatory in high school (before the next generation becomes parents) in our society, people would learn to value human life more. Our children are being educated in all the wrong things in school, like how to make more money so they can buy more things and pay more taxes. Morals don't matter any more. That's the main problem with society. We don't have a gun problem - we have a human problem and most of them need parental guidance before they become a danger to society.
have parenting classes in school
The unique characteristic of a gun (you can kill dozens of people in a few seconds from a distance) make it unique among weapons. There is really no comparison between a gun and a pencil as weapons and I wish people would stop trying to make that argument - it is irrational and diversionary.
Schools have enough, in fact more than enough, to do as it is so parenting classes don't need to be added unless we want to pay more taxes and hire a lot more teachers. On top of that, imagine the political footballs of "what kind of parenting do we teach?" Christian, non-denominational, what constitutes a family value as opposed to valuing free choice etc. For some reason Americans who were raised to value public and formal education now think that education is the answer to every thing. How about we create a society where parents can stay together even if they need public assistance and where workers earn enough money so parents don't have to work extra jobs to make ends meet? How about if parents are around enough to model good parenting? How about if we stop trying to program every single waking moments of our kids lives and leave enough time for them to be kids and have dinner with their parents at the dinner table every night?
CONSUMERJOE,
But most killers don't use pieces of string, or a pencil, or a brick, do they? They looooovvvvveee to use their guns, don't they?
Quick quiz: which is most dangerous, a man with 2' of string attacks you, a man with a pencil attacks you, or someone shooting a gun at you? Which one is hardest to defend yourself from?
But I do agree something is wrong with people now days. The fewer jobs, the more useless our congress gets, the worse our economy seems to get, the more desperate and depressed we allow ourselves to become the more likely this kind of thing is going to happen.
I say we ban the buses!
BOY HELD HOSTAGE IN BUNKER AFTER BEING SNATCHED FROM BUS. Somewhere is an underground bunker or storm shelter a 6 year old little boy is being held by a deranged man with a gun. We know he must be terrified, cold and wanting nothing more than to go home. Somewhere his family and relatives have been up all night sick with worry, unable to eat or think of anything except their little boy and praying that their worst nightmare does not come true. In another household there are also family and relatives mourning the loss of their loved one who was simply doing his job and was killed trying to protect the children on his bus. This is all heartbreaking ...but what is even more disturbing is that: ADULTS ARE USING THIS ARTICLE TO PROMOTE OR TO DISAGREE WITH GUN CONTROL......UNBELIEVABLE.....
Where has common decency gone? Why are so many lacking in compassion? Where has this obsession with guns and the right to own them originated? This is not a debate forum for your rights to carry a gun, I would think there would be comment after comment offering prayers or support or encouraging words to the families...that simply is not the case though. Many are trying to hard to get others to agree with them, to say that they are right and that they can hopefully convert others to their way of thinking. WHAT A SELFISH GROUP OF 'ADULTS'
I am praying for everyone involved in yesterday's tragedy and for a peaceful and happy outcome to this situation. I am also praying that many of you will wake up and see that our world is troubled and that some of you are the reason why. Keep your guns if you want, use them, worship them, clean them and keep them loaded if that makes you happy. But, at a time like this it would be so much more uplifting and a much more mature approach to all of this if you could keep your comments to words of encouragement and words that if the families read them will bring them hope...NOT that so many of you are pushing for more guns. God Bless the little child, the families and the Law enforcement officers who have been awake all night...God please bless our world that is slowly spinning out of control.
It's not gun control. It's crazy control. We do not lock up our crazy people, other countries do.
Our society's criminals are focusing on children... That's the lowest a society can get, when it comes to morals.
Probably another legal gun owner.........
Will the NRA now propose that all bus drivers carry a gun? Then maybe we could have had a shoot out on a crowded bus full of children.
No one is safe in this country. Madmen can easily arm themselves with all the guns they need. They can strike anywhere at any time. The can strike in elementary schools, on school buses, in churches, on playgrounds, in hospitals, malls, anywhere, anytime. Anyone who thinks they will be safe because they own a gun is delusional.
It is a devils bargain that we have entered into. People buy guns to make themselves feel safe but that act puts themselves and everyone in jeopardy. There is so many guns in this country that if we stopped selling guns tommorow we would have guns deaths for decades to come.
WOW! How did this tragic story turn into a "soap box" for all you democrats and republicans to start campaining again! I'm so sick of listenening to your unintelligent propaganda! SHUT THE HELL UP AND LETS WORK TOGETHER TO SOLVE SOMETHING! This poor kid is in serious trouble and you all want to campaign! Please, I beg of you, stop letting you political party continue to guide you by the ring in your nose, grow some balls, and start working to solve the problems we are faced with right now! God, Allah, Buddha, Johova, Carl Sagan or whatever you may believe in save this poor child, because it clearly isn't going to be anyone posting on this page. @$$holes!
And just what makes you think we are here to solve any problem? People who post on these news pages are exercising their freedom of speech. period. Everyone has an opinion, that's all. If you don't want to share your ideas, post a comment or learn something then why are you here?
Don't know a thing about this story, but I would guess digging a compound is a direct result of fear of government and it's growing tentacles.