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| Armed law enforcement personnel station themselves near the property of Jimmy Lee Sykes, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 in Midland City, Ala. Officials say they stormed a bunker in Alabama to rescue a 5-year-old child being held hostage there after Sykes, his abductor, was seen with a gun. |
MIDLAND CITY,
Ala. (AP) -- Officers stormed an underground bunker in Alabama where
a 5-year-old boy had been held hostage for nearly a week, rescuing the
child and leaving the boy's abductor dead, officials said Monday.
Steve
Richardson with the FBI's office in Mobile said at a news conference
Monday afternoon that negotiations had deteriorated with 65-year-old
Jimmy Lee Dykes. Dykes, who a week earlier had abducted the child from a
school bus after fatally shooting the driver, had been seen with a gun.
Officers believed the boy was in imminent danger, Richardson said.
Officers
stormed the bunker just after 3 p.m. CST to rescue the child, who was
taken to a hospital in nearby Dothan. Officials have said the child has
Asperger's syndrome.
However, it was not immediately clear how Dykes died.
Daryle
Hendry, who lives about a quarter-mile from where Dykes' bunker was
located, said he heard a boom Monday afternoon, followed by what sounded
like a gunshot, all around the time officials said they stormed the
bunker.
Melissa Nighton, the city clerk in
Midland City, said a woman had been praying in the town center Monday
afternoon. Not long after, the mayor called her with news that Dykes was
dead and that the boy was safe.
"She must have had a direct line to God because shortly after she left, they heard the news," Nighton said.
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.
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.
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.
Ronda
Wilbur, a neighbor of Dykes who said the man beat her dog to death last
year with a pipe, said she was relieved to be done with the stress of
knowing Dykes was patrolling his yard and willing to shoot at anyone or
anything that trespassed.
"The nightmare is over. It's been a long couple of years of having constant stress," she said.
Authorities
have said Dykes gunned down 66-year-old bus driver Albert Poland Jr.
before taking the boy from the bus. Poland, who was buried Sunday, has
been hailed as a hero for protecting the other nearly two-dozen children
on board from harm.
"This man was a true hero
who was willing to give up his life so others might live," Gov. Robert
Bentley said in a news release Monday after learning of the boy's
rescue.
