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Subscribe to RSSThe family of the Alabama bus driver killed for refusing to hand children over to a gunman is speaking out for the first time. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
An Alabama boy spent his fourth day of captivity in an underground bunker Friday with a survivalist who allegedly killed a school bus driver, but the 5-year-old has received medicine he needs, plus crayons and coloring books.
Hostage negotiators have been talking to the boy's captor through a lengthy PVC pipe, but there was no sign of progress. Police told Alabama media Thursday that the man has been known to stay in the bunker as long as eight days.
The boy, a 5-year-old named Ethan known to his mother as "Love Bug," was apparently unharmed, authorities said Thursday.
His family, which has not spoken publicly since the abduction, was "holding on by a thread," a state representative told the TODAY show. "We are all just hoping this can come to a safe end," Rep. Steve Clouse said.
Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a Vietnam veteran described by authorities as a loner with anti-government leanings -- and by neighbors as a paranoid menace -- is suspected of taking the boy after storming a school bus Tuesday afternoon. Bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was shot and killed while trying to stop the abduction.
Strangely, the two men had a brief encounter just a day before the siege, a neighbor said.
Kelly Miller, who lives next door to Dykes, told NBC affiliate WSFA that Dykes boarded Poland’s bus Monday and spoke with him. She did not know what was said.
Then on Tuesday morning, before the abduction, Poland gave Dykes a gift of eggs and marmalade to thank him for clearing off the driveway where the bus had to turn around, according to Miller.
Miller, whose sons Jessie and Jackson were able to leave the bus before the shooting, told the station that Dykes called her father to the property fence shortly afterward and gave him Poland’s gifts, saying: "Here. I don't want this."
Hours later, Miller heard shots and screams.
"Within seconds of me grasping what was going on, I knew it was Jim," she told WSFA.
A source close to the investigation said the bunker, which is on Dykes' property and was described by a neighbor as 4 feet long, 6 feet wide and 8 feet deep, was equipped with power, food, television and plenty of supplies. The source said negotiators had gotten medicine, crayons and coloring books to the boy.
Late Thursday, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said negotiations through the pipe were continuing.
Clouse told reporters that the boy suffered from Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but had been able to get his medicine while held captive.
People in the small Alabama town of Midland City, not far from the Florida line, expressed hope that prayer might help. For the negotiators it is a matter of waiting, said Clint Van Zandt, a former chief hostage negotiator for the FBI.
"He doesn't want to hurt the child. He didn't take the child to hurt him," said Van Zandt, an analyst for MSNBC. "The child is simply the means to keep law enforcement from crashing into his bunker right now."
He added: "Time is on the side of the negotiator."
It could still be a long wait. James Arrington, police chief of the nearby town of Pinckard, told The Birmingham News that Dykes has been known to stay in his bunker as long as eight days.
The source told NBC News that the man believed to be Dykes walked onto the bus on Tuesday with a note, demanding that two children be handed over to him. The bus driver refused and was shot and killed.
Clouse said the kidnapping appeared to be random.
Neighbors in Midland City have said they saw Dykes tirelessly digging and working on the bunker. One man said it was protected by several feet of sand on top.
Poland has been hailed as a hero. The county school system said 21 children made it off the bus alive.
The driver's son, Aaron Poland, told NBC News that his father took bullets for the children on his bus as he would have for his own children.
"Every time a child got on my dad's bus, they were no longer their parents', they were his," he said.
Poland's sister, Vicki Upchurch, told NBC station KHQ in Spokane, Wash., that the driver "would have done anything to protect those kids."
Poland and his family grew up in northern Idaho, where much of the family still lives, Upchurch said.
Relatives were planning to travel from Idaho to Alabama for Poland's funeral services this weekend.
"We will get through this," Upchurch said. "My brother was very religious. He had a deep faith."
M. Alex Johnson, Ian Johnston, Matthew DeLuca, Gabe Gutierrez, Isolde Raftery and Alastair Jamieson of NBC News contributed to this report.
RELATED: Son says bus driver in Alabama hostage crisis gave life for 'his children'
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Not surprising that no Auburn/Alabama fan will relinquish the 50 yard line tickets demanded by the kidnaper.
N
Cant they pipe sleeping gas into the bunker through the pipe? This is horrible to just sit and wait. I feel so bad for the poor parents....
Not to make light of this situation in any way, but honestly, let the child skip his Ritalin meds for a day or two and the guy will probably send the kid out of his own free will.
absolutely right if the medicine was not ritalin please stop talkin to the stranger talk to the child
We all want a safe and positive outcome for all. Government should think fast and end this quick.. Idea would be to slowly without detection leak traces of sleeping gas into the bunker space to place the boy and the suspect fast asleep so swat officers may resue the little boy and take the crazy guy into custody.
Cano Reno
Why didn't the "Government" of that ???
He may have the bunker booby-trapped so if anyone comes in without him opening the door it explodes.
Mr. Dykes has told law enforcement that he has bombs surrounding the opening to his "shelter"
Put some sleeping gas in there and just go in.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The NRA a$$holes will probaly nominate him as their next president!
Yes the NRA is totally bad and like a bunch of nazis and stuff. Like, just because stuff is in the Constitution doesn't mean the government should like have to listen to it. These people probably want to like bring Hitler back so he and George Bush can like rule the world and all dude.
This is B.S. This kid is going through a horrible...traumatic situation....in a frigging bunker....and he has medical issues. His meds will only help so much. He needs to get out of there as soon as possible. I am tired of hearing about the gun control issue.......one way or another...a nut job is going to get his hand on a gun....a criminal will get his hand on a gun....but the average American citizen will be unarmed. I DON'T THINK SO. Get this nut job out of that bunker and put a bullet in him....just like he did to that bus driver.
Prayers for this little boy and his family and Prayers for the bus driver and his family.
Its so sad to hear this.. I currently live in Virginia for college but i grew up only 30 min from Midland City & know many people from the area because i worked in a Pharmacy there.. I pray they find that child in good health when they get in there & that that sicko gets what he deserves. Maybe if the goverment would scan "mentally Unstable people" more then worrying about go control things like this could be prevented!
A brain scan could show unstable likelihood.
Nitrous Oxide might work. It might back fire also. This is a very delicate situation. My prayers are with this event.
So if the suspect was supposed to be at court for weapons charges, why did he still have weapons and why don't they just pump in a clear gas that puts them to sleep. I know that is available so why drag this on and save the poor little kid.
Too much gas could kill. Not good.
I wonder if the medical issues are a concern for using gas. Only reason I can think of for not already doing it.
This is the start of what the paranoid, anti-gov't, NRA-type gun-goobers have sowed. There will be more. There will be blood.
These anti-gov't, hallucinogenic, psycho-bastards, in the "STUPID PARTY" will be embolden to make this crap a habit. No doubt!!
Put the pipe down sir!
@ C-D (a.k.a. jcline5)
Dude did you wake up today and take too many Stupid-mot**r-Fu*k*r pills?
Uh. Calyps... I would never steal yo' mama's breakfast.
@John C.... Never been a smoker, whiner.
If only the kidnapped lad was Wayne LaPierre's son. But wait.....LaPierre the NRA guru is himself 'a loner' ! No mention of a wife, girl friend, any friend, or any family....nada. Just his surrogate 'guns'. Wonder if he strokes them or (disgustingly) performs fellatio on them.
He said dawg
@WVdawg
We wonder the same about you. I see no comment about you that discuss an actual IQ or if you ever got over that poor spelling issue that you had or if you were ever able to tame that sexual attraction to goats. Inquiring minds want to know.
Well Calyps, if he lives in Alabama or 13 other states, he could indulge in those goat fantasies legally.
He was in Vietnam, so I am sure he is well trained on nerve gas's and using a gas mask and other tactics. He has done plenty of drills of staying down there for 8 days at a time, so the FBI has their hands tied, for he can stay down there for 3 weeks and they know it. He fortified himself well, Re enforced it with steel plates and Brick and cinder blocks. He has plenty of supplies, so this might drag out for a few weeks, unless the boy gets lucky and escapes, or worse happens.
It sounds like he was an over the road truck driver until he retired, so he is used to a sleeper berth which is about the size of the hole. I am sure he has closets he has built into the wall. He has a network of pcv pipe webbed around his property, so he gets air from more then one source. For him waiting it out is a way of life.
He has planned this a few years before he bought the property, while out on the road, for he immediately started the bunker and other traps upon obtaining his new place.
At present he feels in control, so the kid lives. I am sure he has IED's in the hole with him, so he chooses when his time is up. Let us hope he has compassion and lets the boy go on the last leg of his trip.
How do you think the boy would be able to escape? for one thing, he's 5 years old, besides, if his captor went to such detail on his bunker, he has some means to hobble or tie the boy up when he sleeps.
This dude is not a survivalist.....I may be mistaken, but the term implies being able to survive no matter what. This guy is taking young children hostage so he can speak...it may be time to make sure the crazies are informed on, watched, etc. It seems that every day for the last week...guns are in the news. A local high school arrested someone for bringing a gun to school...locally....numerous home invasions, assaults, murders. I never want to see the law abiding hunter or person being deprived a method to hunt or protect their home with. Does anyone know how these freaks get their guns? It appears every crazy and murderer gets them real easy. Can someone tell me how? I am sick, sick, sick of guns being everywhere..instead of locked up and safe as they should be.
tackandcover
Who exactally are the "Gun nuts of America" I happen to be a victim of gun violence, my wife as well. My mother was taken from me when I was 2 years old, she was shot and killed by my father, I was adopted and raised happily. I went through hunter safety when I was 11 years old. I joined the military and served with the Special Boat Teams in the Navy, crossed over to the Army and served with the 1/7 Cavalry as a Cavalry Scout. I have 9 deployments. I am now retired hold a secret clearance and work as a contractor as an engineer on a boat that train's the Navy. My lovely wifes father was taken from her when she was 21 during an armed robbery of their home in Dallas Texas. We are raising are wonderful daughters in California. One thing my wife an I have in common is we love the 2nd it insures the rest of the amendments. Guns did not take my mother nor my wifes father, they were the cause of death but the criminal intent is what deprived me of ever knowing my mother and my wife from putiing our daughters in their grandfathers hands for the first time. I take exception to your term "gun nuts of America" How ever I fought for your 1st amendment as well so enjoy. Have a great life.
pjames, I agree with your post and support your right to protect your family. Some of us get a bit hot under the collar when we participate in discourse on a subject like this one. I'm sure that tackandcover meant no slam to truly responsible gun owners, but I agree with him on one point. There are obviously many gun owners who are not responsible, and they are the ones I have a problem with. Just like I think guns should never be allowed in a bar where alcoholic beverages are consumed, I think all gun owners need to be screened, not only for criminal records, but for dangerous psychological history. I get so tired of seeing families burying their children because some maniac had a gun he should never have had access to.
I am addressing Mr. Dykes. Since it is evident that you have television to help keep Ethan entertained, I am making an assumption that you have internet as well, and are able to read what is being said in response to the articles being written. Please, please, please, I am begging you as a mother, and a member of this community, release Ethan to his family. Everyone's hearts are broken and aching because you have separated a small child from his family. Your war with the government will not be won by traumatizing a small boy, emotionally killing his mother, and wounding a community. Dale county has proven that we are truly a family. Please, I implore you, make our family whole again and return our lamb to the flock.
wow a nam vet pissed at the gov who would have guest somthing like like what there doing to them know wake up up people its not the guns its what they did and are what they are doing to them now this will not end just the start
to courtenay nerbonne you are rite but if you think are gov gives a@!$%# about you or that child you are in a dream but i pray your rite
I don't really give a damn if the government cares or not, but our local law enforcement does. Our sheriff has not left that scene since Tuesday. Our community cares, not only about the hostage, but the man who died protecting the children who did get off the bus. I don't know how the rest of the country behaves, but this is the South, we protect our young, respect our elders, and don't care who knows it or what they think about it. Maybe if the country as a whole had supported the troops returning from Vietnam, scarred and scared because of the memories they were bringing home, we wouldn't be seeing this now.
If the authorities hope he will run out of food and give up they are going to have a long wait. Each day that passes increases the possibility that the child will not come out alive. They should take him out NOW!
Please keep in mind that the family of this young boy can see every comment that is made on any article, just like you can, DO NOT put it in their heads that their child may not come out alive. They have been through so much in the last couple of days, they don't need people who don't know them or this community putting morbid thoughts into their already woeful thoughts.
So their child has been kidnapped and is being held hostage, and you think they are sitting at home reading internet message boards to find out their child's fate?
ask the mother how she would get her son to do something and talk to this stranger as a compassionate person remembering he is heartless so the bond they have is both will be in therapy if they come out together after time the stranger can realize what he did not now it's cold tornado are coming and they both need a good dinner we will not discuss this anymore u are both immature and need some guidance 10 to come out or i'm coming in for my son. get the mothers opinion strangers harms men takes boys anybody get a old grandmother you have to resolve this
Get Janet Reno and Bill Clinton over there right now. They will get the father and kid out. Legally too.
So, the kidnapper is a psychopathic paranoid schizophrenic who harbors insane fantasies about the government? He sounds like your average NRA member, doesn't he?
Oh, haha, I get it, because anyone who thinks they have rights is crazy and paranoid! I guess that includes the ACLU and NAACP too!
So, you'r saying that, along with being crazy, your a racist, too? How's life in your dimly lit fantasy world?
@ Sailcat
I will say with vast support from the ACLU, the judicial & prison systems of this country have long been in ruins
Sailcat you are truly a moron, please show me anything I said that was racist.
Moose... I may not agree with most of what you've said...but you are definitely NOT a racist....
This is Sailcat-2064101 opinion about the second amendment after proving facts about what the Forefather intent for the 2nd was"
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/31/16791677-texas-assistant-da-shot-to-death-at-least-one-gunman-sought?threadId=3657131&commentId=73861989#c73861989
#1.87
So as you see, he is one of the liberals that like to try to reinterpret the Constitution to their way of thinking verses the true intent of the Constitution.
The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to allow the people the ability to fight by against a tyrannical government.
A. The Federalist Papers, No. 28: Alexander Hamilton expressed that when a government betrays the people by amassing too much power and becoming tyrannical, the people have no choice but to exercise their original right of self-defense — to fight the government.[Halbrook, p. 67]
B. The Federalist Papers, No. 29: Alexander Hamilton explained that an armed citizenry was the best and only real defense against a standing army becoming large and oppressive. [Halbrook, p. 67]
C. The Federalist Papers, No. 46: James Madison contended that ultimate authority resides in the people, and that if the federal government got too powerful and overstepped its authority, then the people would develop plans of resistance and resort to arms. [Halbrook, p. 67]
D. There was no National Guard, and the Founders opposed anything but a very small national military. The phrase “well-regulated” means well-trained and disciplined — not “regulated” as we understand that term in the modern sense of bureaucratic regulation. [This meaning still can be found in the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary, 2d ed. 1989, Vol 13, p. 524, and Vol 20. p. 138.]
E. The Federalists promised that state governments and citizen militias would exist to make sure the federal military never became large or oppressive. To say that the National Guard replaces the notion of the militia runs contrary to what the Founders said and wrote.
F. The Third Amendment: Expressly restrains the federal government from building a standing army and infiltrating it among the people ...and at the people’s expense ... in times of peace. The Third Amendment runs against the idea of a permanent standing army or federalized National Guard in principle, if not by its words.
*********
CHALLENGE TO AMERICANS
As you read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights:
And then consider that law students and future lawyers likewise have received precious little education about the Second Amendment.
Realize, too, that the judges know just about as little. Then imagine how little the average American knows — based on the average public school coverage of the Constitution.
The protection of our sacred right of self-defense against both petty criminals and oppressive government — the right of civilians to keep and bear arms — is in your hands.
http://jpfo.org/filegen-n-z/six-about-2nd.htm
Dykes is clearly a mentally ill person (any freshman law student can prove that). If the cops will not kill him, the most time that he will get is one year in a mental hospital because the state does not have the money to keep him there . He will kill again when he has no more depression drugs.
What makes you think he has not killed already? He showed up in the town two years ago apparently from nowhere. It says He was a Truck Driver so apparently he lived on the road until he bought this place, for he was not local or people would have known of him. I am sure his nasty disposition and desire to kill did not just start after he bought this place.
o no ritalin i spoke in haste where are the doctors get this kid help
grow up