The Alabama boy who was kidnapped off of his school bus on Jan. 28 is still being held hostage in an underground bunker by the crazed gunman. After four days underground, officials have made ‘little progress’ in the hostage situation.
Vietnam war veteran, Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, is still holding an Alabama boy named Ethan, 5, hostage in an underground bomb shelter after allegedly charging his school bus on Jan. 29 and kidnapping the terrified student.
In the fourth day of the kidnapping situation, hostage negotiators have been able to communicate with Jimmy through a PVC pipe, but have made no real progress. Police said on Jan. 31 that he has been known to stay in the bunker for up to eight days.
The boy, who was diagnosed with Asberger’s syndrome and ADHD, has received his necessary medication through the PVC pipe, as well as crayons and coloring books.
State representative Steve Clouse said Ethan’s family was “holding on by a thread.” ”We are all just hoping this can come to a safe end,” he added.
Jimmy Lee Dykes Allegedly Kills Bus Driver & Kidnaps Ethan
On Jan. 29., Jimmy boarded a school bus and allegedly shot the bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr. four times, killing him. He ordered all the kids to get off, but when little Ethan fainted, he allegedly took the opportunity to snatch him up.
The victim and the alleged assailant have been holed up underground ever since.
Jimmy Lee Dykes is described as a loner with a distrust of the government, and neighbors described him as a paranoid menace. Neighbors also described the bunker, which is on the man’s property, as being 4 feet long, 6 feet wide and 8 feet deep, and contains power, a TV and plenty of food and supplies.
Such a scary situation. We hope Ethan is returned to his family safely.
– Christina Stiehl
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Rainyday
Posted at 6:35 AM on February 4, 2013
This man is not the only “animal” in this situation, as one poster called him. The “animals” are the society who sent him to war, possibly forced (drafted), and did nothing to help him upon returning from war. They also stood by, and KNEW fully well he had combat PTSD, yet NOONE did anything to help him. The only comments I have seen, say that he didn’t trust the government. Hello? A lot of veterans with combat PTSD do not trust the government, they saw men getting their bodies blown to bits in front of them. This is the reason. This guy had to go to court, maybe with his illness he did not know how to defend himself. He is still at battle, this is the way his system has been wired to defend himself. NO ONE bothered to change his defense system (nervous system), back to the way it was BEFORE the war, which means changing it back to civilized, instead of like war. Changing his nervous system back would have meant putting the veterans through a program when they get home, to change their nervous system back. I hope the general population has the capcity to understand this, but they probably don’t. Those “neighbors” had the repsonsiblity to get this man to the VA. They did not take on that responsiblity, now the community and a poor little child, and the veteran are all paying the price. Terms like, “crazy man”, and “paranoid”, are all they used to decribe him, instead of “veteran that we were calling the VA to help”.