Alabama Hostage Standoff Over: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead and Boy Rescued

After seven days, the Alabama hostage standoff is over with hostage-taker, Jimmy Lee Dykes, dead and the 5-year-old kid safely rescued.

The ordeal began Jan. 29 when Dykes killed 66-year-old bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr. and then snatched the boy off the bus full of youngsters and fled with his hostage to an underground bunker in his property.

According to CNN, FBI agent Steve Richardson said negotiations had deteriorated over the last 24 hours. He said they entered the bunker shortly after 3 p.m. fearing the child was “in imminent danger,” because they’d seen Dykes carrying a firearm.

“I heard a big boom and then … I believe I heard rifle shots,” said Bryon Martin, who owns a home near the bunker where the boy had been held since Tuesday. It was a loud noise that “made me jump off the ground,” he said.

Authorities did not say how they were communicating with Dykes.

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