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| This photograph released by the Alabama Department of Public Safety shows Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver officials identify as the suspect in a fatal shooting and hostage standoff in Midland City, Ala. |
MIDLAND CITY,
Ala. (AP) -- As an Alabama standoff and hostage drama marked a sixth
day Sunday, more details emerged about the suspect at the center, with
neighbors and officials painting a picture of an isolated man estranged
from his family.
Authorities say Jim Lee
Dykes, 65 - a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War known as Jimmy to
neighbors - gunned down a school bus driver and abducted a 5-year-old
boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural
property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was buried
Sunday.
Dykes, described as a loner who railed
against the government, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet
north of Dothan in the southeastern 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 continue to have an open line of communication
with Dykes. The little boy requested Cheez-Its and red Hot Wheels cars,
and both were delivered to the bunker, FBI spokesman Jason Pack told
The Associated Press. Authorities had said they also were delivering
medicine and other comfort items, and that Dykes was making the child as
comfortable as possible.
In the nearby community of Ozark on Sunday, more than 500 people filed into the Civic Center to pay a final tribute to Poland.
Poland
is now "an angel who is watching over" the little boy, said Dale County
School Superintendent Donny Bynum, who read letters written by three
students who had ridden on Poland's bus. "You didn't deserve to die but
you died knowing you kept everyone safe," one child wrote.
Outside
the funeral, school buses from several counties lined the funeral
procession route. The buses had black ribbons tied to their side
mirrors.
Dykes grew up in the Dothan area. Mel
Adams, a Midland City Council member who owns the lot where reporters
are gathered, said he has known Dykes since they were ages 3 and 4.
He said Dykes has a sister and a brother, but that he is estranged from his family.
Adams said he didn't know what caused the falling-out, but that he knew Dykes "had told part of his family to go to hell."
Midland
City Mayor Virgil Skipper said Dykes' sister is in a nursing home.
Adams said that law enforcement officers have talked to Dykes' family
members and advised them not to speak with reporters, and that officers
told his sister there was nothing she could do to help the child in the
bunker.
Government records and interviews with
neighbors indicate that Dykes 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.
Adams
said that he, too, is a Vietnam veteran but that he never was close
with Dykes. Adams said he recalls last seeing Dykes in the 1980s, when
he drove a truck for a company that laundered uniforms.
At
some point after his time in the Navy, Dykes lived in Florida, where he
worked as a surveyor and a long-haul truck driver. It's unclear how
long he stayed there.
He had some scrapes with
the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a
weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for
marijuana possession in 2000.
He returned to
Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards
from his nearest neighbors, Michael Creel and his father, Greg.
Neighbors
described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe,
threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and
patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm. Michael
Creel said Dykes had an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years
ago.
His property has a white trailer that,
according to Creel, Dykes said he bought from FEMA after it was used to
house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The property also has a steel
shipping container - like those on container ships - in which Dykes
stores tools and supplies.
Next to the
container is the underground bunker where authorities say Dykes is holed
up with the 5-year-old. Neighbors say the bunker has a pipe so Dykes
could hear people coming near his driveway. Authorities have been using
the ventilation pipe to communicate with him.
The
younger Creel, who said he helped Dykes with supplies to build the
bunker and has been in it twice, said Dykes wanted protection from
hurricanes.
"He said he lived in Florida and
had hurricanes hit. He wanted someplace he could go down in and be
safe," Creel said. Authorities say the bunker is about 6 feet by 8 feet,
and the only entrance is a trap door at the top.
Such bunkers are not uncommon in rural Alabama because of the threat of tornadoes.
Greg
Creel was a friend of Dykes', but he said he would not comment for The
Associated Press. "I will only talk to the police and the FBI," he said.
Michael Creel said Dykes kept to himself and listened to a lot of conservative talk radio.
"He
was very into what's going on with the nation and the politics and all
the laws being made. The things he didn't agree with, he would
ventilate," he said.
James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, put it differently.
"He's against the government, starting with Obama on down," he said.
Morris
Dees of Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, a group that tracks
hate crimes, said Dykes was not on the group's radar.
Although
the fatal shootings in December at a school in Newtown, Conn., are
still on everyone's mind, Dees said he doesn't think Dykes was trying to
be a copycat.
"Probably not. He had a whole
bus load full of kids, and he could have walked up there and shot the
whole crowd of them," he said.
"I think he's
just a really angry and bitter guy with some anger management issues,"
Dees said. "He is just against everything - the government and his
neighbors."
