February 5, 2013
Midland City, Alabama -- A 5-year-old child
abducted from a school bus six days ago is safe, and his kidnapper is
dead, ending a nearly weeklong ordeal for the little boy, his family and
a small Alabama town.
The child appeared to be
OK when he was freed, law enforcement officials said. The boy was taken
to Flowers Hospital in nearby Dothan, Alabama, state trooper Kevin Cook
said.
The child -- identified
only by his first name, Ethan -- was to be reunited with his mother and
grandmother at the hospital, state Sen. Harri Anne Smith said.
The legislator said she
was just arriving for an afternoon visit with Ethan's mother when
authorities whisked away the mother and her family. Smith said the
woman's smile, and the smiles of others, gave away the good news. The
two hugged before authorities drove the mother away.
FBI Special Agent in
Charge Steve Richardson at the scene said negotiations had broken down
with 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, the child's abductor, and Dykes was
"observed holding a gun."
Believing the child to be
in imminent danger, an FBI team entered the bunker at 3:12 p.m. CT
(4:12 p.m. ET) and rescued the boy, Richardson said, adding that the
hostage-taker is dead.
One neighbor said he was outside when he was startled by the sound of an explosion.
"I heard a big boom and
then ... I believe I heard rifle shots," said Bryon Martin, who owns a
home near the bunker where the boy had been held since Tuesday.
It was a loud noise that "made me jump off the ground," he said.
After the good news spread through the community, travelers on a nearby highway honked their horns as they drove by.
The FBI had borrowed
from the U.S. military high-tech detection equipment similar to the
technology used to discover homemade bombs in war zones, three Defense
Department officials told CNN.
It was unclear whether the equipment, which is not readily available to civilian law enforcement, had been used by the FBI.
One of the defense
officials said no members of the military were involved in the rescue.
They would have been acting a technical advisers, the official said.
Last Tuesday, police said, Dykes boarded a Dale County school bus and demanded the driver hand over two children.
The driver, Charles
Albert Poland Jr., refused, blocking access to the bus's narrow aisle as
at least 21 children escaped out of the back emergency door,
authorities said.
The gunman killed
Poland, then grabbed a kindergartner before barricading himself and the
boy inside a nearby bunker he had built.
Smith said Monday that Ethan has siblings, but none of them were on the bus last week.
In the ensuing days,
officials said little about what was going on in the bunker or in their
strategy, or what -- if anything -- Dykes wanted.
"Based on our
discussions with Mr. Dykes, he feels like he has a story that's
important to him, although it's very complex," Dale County Sheriff Wally
Olson said Monday before the hostage situation ended. He didn't
elaborate.
Ethan suffers from Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit disorder, state Rep. Steve Clouse said during the week.
Dykes told authorities
that he had blankets and a heater in the bunker, and authorities have
previously said the bunker -- built 4 feet underground -- has
electricity.
Authorities did not say how they were communicating with Dykes.
Meanwhile, residents and
business owners in Midland City put up blue, red and black ribbons in
support of the boy and Poland. Blue and red are the local school colors,
and black is in honor of the slain bus driver.
The U.S. Navy confirmed Monday that Dykes served in the military from 1964 to 1969.
Naval records list him
as an aviation maintenance administrationman third-class who served with
units based in California and Atsugi, Japan. The job entails clerical
work related to aircraft and aircraft maintenance, according to the
Navy's job description.
Neighbors and officials had described Dykes as a survivalist with "anti-government" views.
Even as the hostage
situation continued Monday morning, plenty of police were on hand as
schools in neighboring Ozark, Alabama, reopened for the first time since
the incident began.
Dale County schools remained closed but were to reopen on Tuesday, the district said.
In Ozark, school
officials decided to begin strictly enforcing a 15-foot safety zone
around school buses required by state law. The law prohibits any
unauthorized adults, including parents, from approaching within 15 feet
of a school bus stop. If an unauthorized adult gets too close, bus
drivers are supposed to close bus doors or drive away, if necessary,
school officials said
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