Kidnapper dies as boy freed
UNITED STATES
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 yesterday.
Steve Richardson, with the FBI’s office in Mobile, Alabama, said yesterday afternoon 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 youngster was in imminent danger, Richardson said.
Officers stormed the bunker to rescue the child, who was taken to a hospital in nearby Dothan.
Officials have said the child has Asperger’s syndrome.
It was not immediately how Dykes died.
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Daryle Hendry, who lives about 400 metres from Dykes’ bunker, said he heard a boom yesterday afternoon, followed by what sounded like a gunshot, about the time officials said they stormed the bunker.
Neighbours 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.
The crisis in Alabama unfolded amid a divisive nationwide debate over gun control and the safety of schoolchildren after the December shooting that killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut primary school.
US President Barack Obama travelled to Minnesota yesterday to rally support from the public and law enforcement community for his calls to ban assault weapons and require universal background checks for gun buyers.
Gun advocates remain firmly opposed to tighter laws, arguing that gun ownership is a basic right enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.
Government records and inter- views with neighbours indicate 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 misdemeanour was dismissed. He was also arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.
He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving on to the rural tract about 90m from his nearest neighbours.
Neighbour Ronda Wilbur had said Dykes beat her dog to death last year with a pipe.
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 on his land.
‘‘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 before taking the boy from the bus.
Poland, who was buried on Sunday, has been hailed as a hero for protecting the other 20-plus children on board.
‘‘This man was a true hero who was willing to give up his life so others might live,’’ Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said after learning of the boy’s rescue.
Melissa Knighton, the city clerk in Midland City, said a woman had been praying in the town centre yesterday.
Not long after, the mayor told her Dykes was dead and the boy was safe.
‘‘She must have had a direct line to God because shortly after she left, they heard the news,’’ Knighton said.