These stories get more sickening every time. A man in Alabama has shot and killed a school bus driver, and took a 6-year-old kindergarten student hostage yesterday through today. Police SWAT teams and hostage negotiators were locked in a standoff with him for hours. More details below.
Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver, has been identified as the gunman…and he’s had a history of trouble. His neighbors described him as “paranoid and combative,” and revealed he’d 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 boarded a stopped school bus in Midland City on yesterday afternoon, proceeded to shoot the driver and then refused to let a 6-year-old child off the bus. He then took the boy away. The standoff with police went on through the night.
The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland, Jr., 66, was hailed by School Superintendent Donny Bynum as a hero who gave his life to protect 21 students.
Homes nearby were evacuated early in the morning after authorities found what was believed to be a bomb on his property.
The story is currently developing. Prayers for all involved!
Source: HP
