Bombs found in Alabama bunker
Despite ordeal, 5- year- old seems OK, relatives say
MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — The Alabama man who held a 5- year- old boy captive for nearly a week engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents storming his underground bunker before he was killed during the rescue operation, the FBI said Tuesday night. Also, bomb technicians scouring his rural property found two explosive devices, one in the bunker, one in a plastic pipe that negotiators used to communicate with the man.
Offi-cers killed 65- yearold Jimmy Lee Dykes on Monday, said an official in Midland City, speakingon condition of anonymity. The bunker raid came six days after Dykes boarded a school bus, fatally shot the driver and abducted the boy, who by all accounts was unharmed.
Dykes “reinforced the bunker against any attempted entry by law enforcement,” FBI Special Agent Jason Pack said in an email. The devices found were “disrupted,” Pack said, though he did not say whether that meant they were detonated or disarmed. Officers will continue Wednesday to sweep the 100- acre property and, when they finish, investigators can more thoroughly investigate, Pack said.
Monday, authorities said, Dykes had a gun and appeared increasingly agitated, though it’s unclear exactly how his behavior changed. Negotiations — the details of which have not been made public — were deteriorating. The Midland City official said law enforcement agents had been viewing Dykes with some sort of camera, which is how they saw that he had a gun.
Pack declined to get into specifics, but confirmed that high- tech surveillance equipment was used during the police standoff.
Agents stormed the bunker, whisking the boy to safety and leaving Dykes dead. The official who confirmed that officers had killed Dykes and the use of the camera cited discussions with law enforcement and requested anonymity.
By all accounts, despite his ordeal, the 5- year- old on Tuesday appeared to be acting like a normal kid, people around him say.