Explosives specialists with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived in Midland City, Ala., after a gunman boarded a stopped school bus, shot the driver, and took a 5-year-old autistic boy hostage on Tuesday.
The suspect has been identified as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and survivalist with ties to the anti-government movement. After leaving the scene of the shooting, Dykes took the boy into an underground bunker on his remote property.
An army of officers, SWAT teams, and negotiators have surrounded the property. They began negotiating with Dykes through a PVC pipe, reports WSFA. FBI officials, as well as the U.S. Marshal's Office, are also on the scene assisting local sheriffs and police agencies, reports AL.com.
Dykes was scheduled to appear today to face charges of menacing neighbors as they drove by his house. Fox News is reporting that the shooter boarded the bus and told the driver that he needed two kids "between the ages of 6 and 8."
