Jimmy Lee Dykes Identified as Hostage Taker in Alabama

From USA Today:

Police, SWAT teams and FBI negotiators kept vigil Wednesday near an underground bunker in rural Alabama where a gunman was holding hostage a 5-year-old boy he had snatched from a school bus Tuesday after killing the driver, authorities and neighbors said.

A law enforcement official who is not authorized to speak to the media identified the man as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a retired truck driver and Navy veteran. Neighbors said he was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face charges for pointing a gun at residents last month in a dispute over a speed bump.

Dale County Sheriff's Office reports Dykes is connected to the anti-government survivalist movement.

Patricia Smith, who lives across the street from Dykes in the rural community in far southeastern Alabama, said her children had been on the bus about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday when the shooting occurred. They told her that two other children had just been dropped off when Dykes stepped onto the bus and grabbed the door so that the driver couldn't close it.

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