Bus Driver Shot Dead and 6 Year Old Child Held Hostage in Underground Bunker in Midland City, AL (Gunman & Hostage Taker: Jimmy Lee Dykes)

Hostage stand off in Midland City, Alabama continues …

A man in Midland City, AL has fatally shot a school bus driver and has taken a six year old child hostage.  The incident took place on Tuesday at about 3:40 pm CT, and as of Wednesday morning, the man and the 6 year old child are still held up in an underground bunker. A neighbor stated that the suspect had been living in the area for about two years and began building the “bomb shelter” right when he moved in. The police have yet to provide the name of the suspect.

A man fatally shot the driver of a school bus in Alabama and fled with a 6-year-old child passenger, prompting an overnight standoff with police that remained unresolved Wednesday, authorities and reports said.

The Dale County Sheriff told WBMA-TV (http://bit.ly/WthpQh ) that the man shot the driver in Midland City on Tuesday afternoon when he refused to let the child off the bus. The driver later died of his wounds. His identity wasn’t released

The shooter took the child to an area behind a nearby church, and police were negotiating with him for hours, authorities said.

WSFA-TV reported early Wednesday that Alabama State troopers, a SWAT team and FBI agents had converged nearby.

Midland City police would not comment, and a dispatcher at the Dale City Sheriff’s office told The Associated Press early Wednesday that the agency was not releasing any immediate details.

UPDATE I: Suspect named in the Alabama hostage stand off … 65 year old  Jimmy Lee Dykes. It would appear that Dykes has a past of not playing well with others. According to reports, he was scheduled to appear in court on charges stemming from a dispute with neighbors last month.  

The gunman, identified by neighbors as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver, was known around the neighborhood as a menacing figure who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun.

He had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to answer charges he shot at his neighbors in a dispute last month over a speed bump.

 KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather

UPDATE II: Hostage stand off in Alabama at 30 hours and counting.