A man shot a school bus driver and kidnapped a six-year-old boy on Tuesday near Midland City, Ala. The bus driver died of his wounds and the little boy is reportedly still being held hostage in "an underground bunker," according to USA Today. The driver's identity has not been released.
According to local news website DothanEagle.com, the shooter has been identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65.
Yesterday afternoon at around 3:30, Dykes reportedly "demanded the driver to let a student off the bus," reported the local ABC affiliate. "When the driver refused, the suspect boarded the bus, shot the driver before taking the child and fleeing the scene."
Dykes apparently brought the six-year-old to a homemade underground bunker on his property, CBS News reports. As of Wednesday morning, authorities are still in a standoff with the shooter, and police are "communicating with the suspect through a PVC pipe in the bunker," according to the local CBS affiliate WTVY-TV.
WTVY-TV spoke with local resident Claudia Davis, who said she's had a few previous unsettling encounters with the shooter.
"Before this happened I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me" she told WTVY. "On Monday I saw him at a laundrymat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck and he just stared and stared and stared at me."
Local authorities told the Associated Press early Wednesday that they would not be releasing any details about the situation at that time.
Check back here for updates as the situation unfolds.
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