A young Alabama boy entered his fifth day Saturday in a bunker with the man accused of snatching him off a school bus.

Police said Saturday that the boy, aged 5, has toys, coloring books, and medication in the underground bunker where he is being held by Jimmy Lee Dykes, the Associated Press reported.

The boy has Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a state representative said earlier this week.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said that Dykes, 65, told police he has an electric heater and blankets in the underground bunker on his property in Midland City, Ala. Olson would not say whether Dykes has made any demands, according to the AP.

---

“I want to thank him for taking care of our child,” Olson said. “That’s very important.”

While little has changed in the standoff since Tuesday afternoon and authorities are keeping tight-lipped, former FBI hostage negotiator Clint Van Zandt said on the TODAY show that patience may pay off.

First picture emerges of man believed to have taken 5-year-old hostage in Alabama

“85 percent or more of standoff situations like this end nonviolently,” Van Zandt said on Saturday. Police have said that they are communicating with Dykes in the bunker through a PVC ventilation pipe.

“The reality is he hasn’t been hurt,” Van Zandt said of the young hostage. “Law enforcement doesn’t want to do anything precipitously that could cause anybody to be hurt at this time when the talking cure will likely work in this situation.”

Dykes’ neighbor Michael Creel told the AP that the man, who has been described as a paranoid Navy veteran, showed off the ventilation pipe after installing it about a year ago.

“He was bragging about it,” Creel told the AP. “He said, ‘Come check it out.’”

The first picture of Dykes emerged Friday. The man served just over four years in the Navy, a U.S. military official confirmed on Friday, and received several awards including a good conduct medal.

Meanwhile, the Dale County community mourned school bus driver Charles Albert Poland, Jr., 66, this weekend. Police say Poland was shot and killed while trying to stop the child from being taken off his bus on Tuesday.

Son says bus driver in Alabama hostage crisis gave life for ‘his children’

Aaron Poland, the son of the slain bus driver, told TODAY that his dad died a hero.

“Every time a child got on my dad’s bus, they were no longer their parents’, they were his. He considered them his children,” Poland said, his voice quavering with emotion. “I know that’s the reason why my dad took those shots, for his children, just like he would do for me and my sister.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The first picture emerged Friday of the Alabama man who authorities say has held a 5-year-old boy in an underground bunker for more than three days after snatching him off a school bus.

A police source confirmed to NBC News that the photo is of Jimmy Lee Dykes, who authorities say took the boy after shooting and killing the bus driver Tuesday afternoon in the small town of Midland City.

---

Dykes, 65, described by authorities and neighbors as a Vietnam veteran and survivalist with deep mistrust of the government, has communicated with hostage negotiators through a long PVC pipe.

The boy has Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a state representative said Thursday. Authorities have gotten medicine to the boy through the pipe, plus crayons and coloring books.

Bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was shot and killed while trying to stop the abduction. His children told NBC News that he thought of the children on the bus as his own, and took bullets for them as he might have for his son or daughter.

"Every time a child got on my dad's bus, they were no longer (with) their parents,' they were his," son Aaron Poland said in an interview that aired Friday on TODAY.

Police towed the bus away from the scene Friday after processing it for evidence.

The two men had a brief encounter 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.

Published reports have quoted neighbors as saying Dykes has spent as long as eight days at a time in the bunker.

A U.S. military official confirmed Friday that Dykes served a little more than four years in the Navy before being discharged in January 1969. He received several awards, including a medal for good conduct.

Neighbors have described him as a paranoid menace who killed at least one neighborhood pet and threatened children on his property. On the day of the school bus siege, he was due in court over allegedly shooting at a neighbor’s truck. Police have not said if they believe the planned court appearance was connected to the hostage situation.

RELATED: Son says bus driver in Alabama hostage crisis gave life for 'his children'

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'

The school bus driver killed this week in an Alabama hostage drama took bullets for the children on his bus just as he would have for his own kids, his son says.

When a child boarded Charles Albert Poland Jr.’s bus, “they were no longer their parents’, they were his,” Aaron Poland told NBC News. “And I know that’s the reason why my dad took those shots. It was for his children, just like he would do for me and my sister.”

Authorities say Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and survivalist, boarded Poland's bus on Tuesday and demanded two children. When Poland refused, Dykes shot him, authorities say. They say Dykes took a 5-year-old boy hostage and has been holed up in an underground bunker with him ever since.

Poland, 66, had driven a school bus for Dale County since 2009. Authorities said they found four shell casings at the scene.

---

"I expected them to say he had a heart attack or got in to a car wreck. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd get shot, and shot four times," Poland's sister, Vicki Upchurch, said Thursday.

Upchurch, who lives in Athol, Idaho, told NBC station KHQ of Spokane, Wash., that Poland family grew up in northern Idaho, where much of the family still lives. Relatives were planning to travel from Idaho to Alabama for his funeral services this weekend.

"We will get through this," Upchurch said. "My brother was very religious. He had a deep faith."

Poland joined the Army in the 1960s and moved to Alabama, where he married and had lived ever since, Upchurch said. She said he retired as a diesel mechanic in 2009 and had been driving a school bus to help support his wife until she was able to retire.

"My brother would have done anything to protect those kids," she said.

Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum said in a statement Wednesday that "Mr. Poland was well-loved by all of us here at Dale County Schools."

Hostage suspect was loner, missed court appearance

Poland's wife, Jan, remembered the man known to friends as "Chuck" as a gentle, caring man in an interview with a local newspaper, The Dothan Eagle.

Friends and family gathered Wednesday at the couple's home in Newton, about a 15-minute drive from Midland City, according to the paper.

"He loved them," she said of the friends and family shocked by Poland's violent death. "He loved everybody and he was loved."

Terry Roberts, a firefighter and youth pastor in Newton, told the Eagle that he had known Poland for most of his life.

Those who knew him are in "total shock," Roberts told the paper.

"The kids, everybody's just in total shock," Roberts said. "I've got a young child, so it really hits home."

The Dale County Sheriff's Department offered its condolences to Poland's family in a press release Wednesday.

"It says in the Bible the meek will inherit the Èarth," Poland's brother-in-law Melvin Skipper told the Eagle. "He was the meekest man I knew."

Alabama bunker hostage boy's family is 'holding on by a thread'

While neighbors have described Dykes, 65, as a paranoid survivalist who was always digging in his yard with a shovel, Poland's neighbor Hilburn Benton told the Eagle that the bus driver once helped him complete a major yard project and asked nothing in return.

"He told me, 'You're my friend and you're my neighbor. I'm not charging you a dime,'" Benton told the paper.

Schools in Dale County and in neighboring Ozark city were to remain closed for the rest of the week, according to a release Wednesday from the Dale County Board of Education.

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.

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.

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.

Attempting a brazen getaway after a car crash via an ambulance, a pair of horses and a stolen SUV when you're drunk may not be the best idea. At least it wasn't for an Alabama man who attempted to do exactly that over the weekend, according to police.

The series of transportation failures began last Friday, when 24-year-old Matthew Todd of Boaz, Ala., got into a car accident, reported NBC affiliate WAFF-TV in Alabama. Investigators told WAFF that Todd was intoxicated at the time of the crash, which happened in Sardis City, a few miles from Boaz, in the northeastern part of the state.

It's unclear whether there were other drivers involved and what kind of injuries Todd suffered from the crash. He was taken by ambulance to the nearest emergency room at Marshall Medical Center South in Boaz and admitted as a patient, but Todd had no interest in sticking around: Authorities said shortly after he got there, he persuaded hospital staff to let him go outside for a smoke break.

---

Once outside, instead of grabbing a cigarette, Todd hopped into an ambulance that was running, according to WAFF.

"He got the ambulance stuck at the end of Bernard Street and after that, he entered a barn and a connected pasture and tried to saddle two horses," Boaz Police Chief Todd Adams told WAFF.

The attempted equestrian escape was just as doomed as the ambulance he had to abandon, so Todd stole an SUV instead, WAFF reported. He crashed the SUV, totaling it, according to Boaz police; Todd allegedly then found a second SUV to steal, which finally ended up being his ticket back to his house, WAFF reported.

Todd spent the night at home, and the following day, returned to the emergency room seeking treatment for the injuries he suffered from the initial car accident.

"That's when the ER staff and medics called us, and said, 'That's the guy that stole our ambulance,'" Adams told WAFF. The ambulance was found Saturday morning where Todd had left it; Todd was booked into Marshall County Jail on $7,500 bail on two charges of auto theft and one count of burglary, WAFF reported.

Charges are also pending against him for the initial crash that put him in the emergency room, according to WAFF. 

It's not known whether Todd has a history of criminal activity. 

A gunman shot and wounded a police officer and two employees at a Birmingham, Ala., hospital early Saturday before being shot to death by another officer, authorities said.

The shooting happened shortly after 4 a.m. on the fifth floor of at St. Vincent’s Hospital, WVTM-TV and al.com  reported.

---

Two officers responding to a report of an armed man inside the facility entered the floor from different locations.

"When the officer encountered the suspect, there was immediate gunfire from the suspect," Birmingham Police Sgt. Johnny Williams said, according to The Associated Press.

One officer and two hospital workers were wounded. 

A second officer shot and killed the suspect.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

The injuries to the officer and employees were not life-threatening, Williams said, according to al.com.

Detectives were trying to determine why the armed man was in the hospital. Authorities did not immediately release the names of the suspect or the victims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Victims' bodies identified as Connecticut town seeks answers
• After shooting, some Democrats demand action, but prospects unclear
• Hug tweeted 'round the world and floating dogs: the most social stories of 2012
• Same-sex wife of Army officer banned from joining Fort Bragg spouses club
• 6.3-magnitude quake strikes off California coast

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Florida Democrat Earl K. Wood and Alabama Republican Charles Beasley won their respective elections but they will not take office.

Both men died weeks before the November 6 election yet managed to beat their very much alive opponents by comfortable margins.

Wood died on October 15 from natural causes at age 96, during his campaign for a 12th term as Orange County Tax Collector in Orlando, Fla.

---

Criticized for rarely coming into the office while collecting a $150,000 salary and $90,000 pension, Wood initially announced he would step down, only to change his mind when a longtime political foe made plans to seek the seat.

Wood's wide name recognition after almost half a century in office scared off several serious contenders. His name remained on the ballot and he took 56 percent of the votes to 44 percent for a Republican who promised to eliminate the office altogether if elected.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

Beasley, 77, died on October 12, possibly due to an aneurysm, while trying to reclaim his old seat on the Bibb County Commission in central Alabama.

Beasley's name also remained on the ballot and he won about 52 percent of the vote. His Democratic opponent, incumbent Commissioner Walter Sansing, took the loss especially hard.

"It is a touchy situation. When you are running against a dead man, you are limited as to what you can say," Sansing told Reuters.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

He blamed people voting straight Republican tickets for his loss.

In Orlando, Scott Randolph, an outgoing Democratic state legislator and state party activist, was selected by his party to receive votes cast for Wood and he will assume the office. In Alabama, the governor will appoint a new commissioner with input from local Republicans.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Zoo officials: Toddler's death in Pittsburgh shows no zoo is 100 percent safe
• Mobster 'Whitey' Bulger back in jail after hospital stay, awaits trial
• Nor'easter threatens 'flying debris,' up to foot of snow in Sandy's wake
• Post Superstorm Sandy, travelers prepare for a busy Thanksgiving
• 6 splitting headaches waiting for Obama

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Updated at 6:57 p.m. ET: Birmingham, Ala., police got a Halloween surprise when they responded to a concerned citizen’s 911 call of a woman shot in her SUV at a city intersection.

Officers found a woman bloodied and slumped over the wheel of her car at a traffic light Thursday morning, al.com reports.

But the blood wasn’t real, and she hadn’t been shot. Instead, police told al.com, she was just drunk and still dressed in her Halloween costume, which appeared to resemble something like a blood-splattered, pregnant zombie.

---

"We’re unsure the amount of time she was at the intersection, but we do know that it was not a very long period of time, due to the location. It’s a busy intersection and it would be easy to cause a delay in traffic," police Sgt. Johnny Williams told NBC News via email.  

"I can say that we are uncertain what her costume represented, but it did entail face paint and a large amount of fake blood. She believed that officers pulled her over, but they had to wake her as she sat at a traffic signal. The car was still running (in gear) when officers managed to wake her. "

The woman was taken to the city jail on a DUI charge, al.com reported.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Former Penn State president faces charges linked to Sandusky sex case
• NBC/WSJ/Marist polls: Obama leads in Iowa, running neck and neck in NH, Wis.
• 'Pure mayhem' as New York City tires to get back to work
• Campaign ad spending closes in on $1 billion
• Cops: At least 3 shot during Hollywood Halloween celebrations
• Diesel spill pollutes waters between Staten Island, NJ
• 2 children stabbed to death in Ill. home; victim's mom in custody

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook