Midland City hostage-taking
The kidnapping of Midland City , a town in Dale County in the US state of Alabama , began with the murder of a school bus driver and the kidnapping of a five year old boy on January 29, 2013, ended on February 4, 2013, the storming of the bunker in which the hostage-taker had holed up together with the kindergarten child through the Federal Bureau of Investigation , where the hostage could be freed, but the perpetrator was killed in a shootout with the emergency services.
The attack on the bus
On Tuesday afternoon, January 29, 2013 at around 3:40 pm UTC-6, Jim "Jimmy" Lee Dykes robbed a school bus in Midland City , Dale County and took five-year-old Ethan after he drove the bus to the sixty-six-year-old driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., was killed with four shots, eyewitnesses reported. Dykes is said to have known the bus driver. As some media reported, the remaining occupants of the bus, 20 children, were able to escape through an emergency door, while other media reported that the perpetrator sent the remaining children out of the vehicle. It was also reported that the perpetrator requested the surrender of two children, but when the bus driver refused to obey Dyke's request, he was shot dead and Dykes attacked Ethan.
The hostage situation
Dykes holed up with the child in a self-made underground bunker near Midland City. Police negotiated with the hostage taker through a plastic tube, feeding Ethan toys, food and medication that the boy, who has Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD , must take on a daily basis. The police praised the hostage taker for his cooperation. On Wednesday, January 30th, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation and negotiation. Authorities were reluctant to publish the hostage taker's claims, but Dykes said he would release the boy if he could tell a journalist "his story". When negotiations worsened on Monday, February 4, and Dykes was seen with a gun through a special camera that could be installed in the bunker unnoticed, the authorities decided to storm the building. Explosives were thrown into the bunker, the explosions of which irritated Dykes and gave the Hostage Rescue Team , a special unit of the FBI, access at 3:12 p.m. CET, whereupon, according to the FBI, Dykes opened fire and was shot by the officers . Ethan was unharmed during the rescue operation. According to CNN , then US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is said to have provided a drone for the action. After the liberation, the boy reportedly unharmed was hospitalized and examined, and no physical damage was found.
After the storm
After storming the bunker and rescuing the hostage, bomb clearance squads searched the building as there was suspicion that there were more explosive devices in the bunker after two of them had already been discovered. However, the search for further explosives was stopped on February 7th and Dykes' body, which was still in the bunker during the work, was released for removal.
The bunker
The red brick bunker will be about one meter below the ground, 1.80 meters by 2.40 meters and about 2.60 meters high and, according to Sheriff Wally Olsen, will have water, electricity and television, only one toilet should be have been missing. According to his neighbors, Dykes has been working on the construction of the bunker, which he designated as a shelter for hurricanes, since 2011 "always from 2 am after the night shift".
The culprit
The perpetrator, Jim Lee Dykes (born April 9, 1947), known to those around him as "Jimmy", was a 65-year-old truck driver from Dale County who grew up in the Dothan area , from 1964 to 1996 as a decorated soldier with the United States Navy served and, among other things, had a mission in the Vietnam War . He was described as a loner and violent man who hatred the US government and had fallen out with his family. He has come into conflict with the law several times, including arrest in 1995 for improper use of a weapon and in 2000 for possession of marijuana . He also had a court hearing shortly before the hostage-taking because he allegedly threatened his neighbor and her daughter with a gun after an argument. Furthermore, neighbors claim to have watched him live in the bunker for eight days before the crime, which some media see as a possible test run for the crime.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Five-year-old freed from being held hostage for a week . (Accessed February 5, 2013)
- ↑ a b cbsnews.com: "Firefight" ended Alabama hostage drama . (Accessed February 6, 2013; English)
- ↑ a b Merkur-online.de: Man shoots down the bus driver . (Accessed February 5, 2013)
- ↑ a b Die Welt: Bus driver gave his killer eggs in the morning . (Accessed February 6, 2013)
- ^ A b Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung: School bus attack - six-year-old still in the hands of the man . (Accessed February 5, 2013)
- ↑ a b cbsnews.com: FBI: No more explosives found near Alabama bunker where held boy hostage . (Accessed February 7, 2013; English)
- ↑ a b c d Die Welt: Police fail at Jimmy Lee Dykes' bunker . (Accessed February 5, 2013)
- ↑ a b c d e f The world: FBI action with drone, X-ray, stun grenade . (Accessed February 5, 2013)
- ↑ nytimes.com: Standoff in Alabama Ends in Boy's Rescue and Kidnapper's Death . (Accessed February 7, 2013; English)
- Jump up ↑ Jimmy Lee Dykes (1947-2013) - Find A Grave Memorial
- ↑ a b c clarionledger.com: Ala. hostage standoff: Details emerge about Jim Lee Dykes . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) (Accessed February 6, 2013; English)