The Alabama man police say shot and killed a school bus driver Tuesday in an attempt to kidnap a 6-year-old boy has been hunkered down for hours with the child in an underground bunker on his remote property, The Dothan Eagle, a local newspaper, reported.
The paper reported that neighbors in Midland City, which is in south Alabama, identified the suspect as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 67. Police have not officially released the suspect's identity.
Michael Creel, who lives on the road where the shooting occured, said a girl told him that the shooter boarded the bus and told the driver that he needed two kids "between the ages of 6 and 8."
Dykes, for his part, was scheduled to be in court Wednesday for a menacing charge, the report said.
Police with SWAT teams and negotiators were at the rural property. Residents in the surrounding area were evacuated and a bomb squad was at the scene, the WSFA.com reported.
Authorities have been in contact with the suspect and the boy is believed to be OK, WSFA said. The situation is considered delicate.
The Dale County coroner Woodrow Hilboldt told The Associated Press the overnight standoff continued early Wednesday with tactical units, negotiators and other officers at the scene near a church. He said the suspect was believed to be in an area described as a place "to get out of the way of a tornado."
The coroner said the victim, who was in his mid-60s, died of multiple gunshot wounds. He wouldn't release a name until family had been notified.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/30/driver-fatally-shot-aboard-alabama-school-bus/
