Alleged Bus Driver Shooter Remains Holed Up with Boy in Ala. Bunker - East Idaho News
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Alleged Bus Driver Shooter Remains Holed Up with Boy in Ala. Bunker

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GETTY N 020911 SchoolBus?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1359626805433George Doyle/Stockbyte/Thinkstock(MIDLAND CITY, Ala.) — A 5-year-old boy, who police in Dale County, Ala., say was abducted by a man who killed a school bus driver, remains holed up with the suspected kidnapper in an underground bunker as of early Thursday morning.

Law enforcement authorities are keeping a close watch on the bunker, where reports are that the child is unharmed and watching TV.

The suspect has been identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, who was due to appear in court Wednesday on charges that he pointed a gun at people during a disagreement over a speed bump.

According to police, the boy was among a group of children riding a school bus in the rural Alabama community Tuesday afternoon when Dykes, who has been described as an anti-government survivalist, forced his way onto the vehicle at a stop.

Reports are that Dykes said he wanted two boys for an undisclosed reason when bus driver Charles Albert Poland tried to intercept the suspect.  It was then that Dykes allegedly fired four shots at Poland, killing him.

Dykes then took the 5-year-old to the homemade bunker he had constructed on his property, authorities said.

Police are tight-lipped about the situation and what, if any, demands Dykes has made in order to free the boy.

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