UPDATE: 5:50pm CST – – An unfortunate incident last week reported on here at CDL Life, has now captured the attention of the nation as a child hostage standoff in Midland City, Alabama reached a sixth day then abruptly ended. The retired truck driver, 65 year-old Jim Dykes was shot dead. His captor, a 5 year-old kindergartner known only as Ethan who requires daily medication, is now safe in the hands of authorities.
The armed man who had been holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker for six days, defying authorities, yet continually speaking to them through a cell phone and an airway pipe ended today with S.W.A.T. teams breaching the entry to the fortified outdoor bunker and shooting the man on sight. The boy has been released unharmed, ending a six-day standoff, law enforcement authorities said on Monday.
Stephen E. Richardson, a special agent with the F.B.I., said that the child was rescued here at about 3:12 p.m.
Previous information on the standoff:
FBI officials have declined to comment, referring calls to local authorities who are only providing very few official updates on the situation.
Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson, chief spokesman for local law enforcement officials in Midland City, told a brief news conference on Saturday that authorities had been “in constant communication” with the suspect, who was officially identified on Friday as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes.
A retired trucker and Vietnam veteran, Dykes is the man police believe responsible for fatally shooting bus driver Charles Albert Poland, 66, on Tuesday and then taking one of Poland’s more than 20 child passengers hostage as they rode home from school.
Dykes, described as a loner who spoke out against government intrusions and law enforcement, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.
The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities planned to deliver to the bunker additional comfort items such as food, toys and medicine. They also said Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible.
Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes grew up in the Dothan area and joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance.
More on this story as it develops.