Police are still at a stand-off in Alabama after Jimmy Lee Dykes fatally shot a bus driver, abducted a 6 year old boy and remains in an underground bunker with the kindergartner.
Dykes, 67, had stepped onto the bus on Wednesday, and demanded two boys between the ages of six and eight from bus driver Charles Albert Poland, Jr., 66. According to examiner.com, two other children had been dropped off when Dykes grabbed the doors so that Poland could not close it.
Dykes shot Poland with a handgun upon his refusal to hand over the boys.
Evidently, Dykes has been working on an underground bunker, in the middle of the night, for over a year. It is here where he now holds the young boy, who requires daily medication for Autism and ADHD. Dykes is communicating with police through a PVC pipe, where it is reported that he has received the boys medication and apparently lets the youth watch television and color.
On Wednesday, the same day that this began, Dykes was scheduled to appear in court for shooting at neighbors over a speed bump.
“His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he has PTSD,” Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff’s Office, “He was standoffish, didn’t socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type,” according to CNN.com.
As little movement occurs, the sheriff urges the community to “pray.”