Authorities report that the 5-year-old child is safe but the kidnapper, Jimmy Lee Dykes, is dead.
CNN reports that the 6-day-long hostage situation in Midland City, Alabama, is over. Law officials report that the child appears to be OK, and Alabama state Representative Steve Clouse has told CNN that the child was transported to a hospital in Dothan, a town nearby.
At the scene FBI Special Agent in charge Steve Richardson said the negotiations with Jimmy Lee Dykes had broken down, and the kidnapper was “observed holding a gun.” It was at this point that the FBI believed the hostage was in “imminent danger.” An FBI team stormed the underground bunker where Dykes had been holding the child for 6 days and rescued the boy. Richardson added, “the hostage-taker is dead.”
Photo: Dale County Sheriff