MIDLAND CITY, Ala. —
For six anguished days, people in this small Alabama town asked just one question about the 5-year-old boy being held hostage in an underground bunker by a menacing, unpredictable neighbor: “Is he free yet?”
After FBI agents determined that talks with an increasingly agitated Jimmy Lee Dykes were breaking down, they stormed the closet-sized shelter and freed the kindergartner. The 65-year-old armed captor was killed by law enforcement officials, an official told The Associated Press.
Authorities say the boy, who they believed to be facing imminent danger, was doing well after his ordeal. But they have yet to answer questions as to how they monitored Dykes and exactly what prompted the rescue Monday afternoon.
And almost a week after Dykes was accused of fatally shooting a school bus driver on Jan. 29 and grabbing the child at random from a busload of students, the man described as threatening and volatile by his neighbors lay dead on his property in Midland City.
An official in Midland City, citing information from law enforcement, said police had shot Dykes. The official requested anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the investigation into the case that had captured national attention.
As they had been throughout the standoff, authorities were tight-lipped about the end of the standoff. Neighbors said they heard a bang and gunshots, but the FBI wouldn’t confirm that. Authorities also kept under wraps exactly how they were able to monitor Dykes and the boy in such a confined space.
“We have a big crime scene behind us to process,” said Special Agent Steve Richardson of the FBI’s office in Mobile, Ala. “I can’t talk about sources, techniques or methods that we used. But I can tell you the success story is (the boy) is safe.”
He declined to say if the property had been rigged with explosives.
Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said late Monday that Dykes was armed when officers entered the bunker to rescue the child. He said the boy was threatened, but declined to elaborate.
“That’s why we went inside — to save the child,” he said. “ ... It’s a relief for us to be able to reunite a mother with her child.”
Daryle Hendry, who lives about a quarter-mile from the bunker, said he heard a boom Monday afternoon, followed by what sounded like a gunshot.
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Dale County Sheriff Wally Olsen answers questions from the media about the close of the hostage crisis during a news conference late Monday in Midland City, Ala. AP Photo/AL.com, Jay Hare
Discussion
Town: Relief that child hostage is safe
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