A sign encouraging prayer for a 5-year-old boy being held hostage, hangs on a fence surrounding Midland City Elementary school Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2013, in Midland City, Ala. Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 – a decorated Vietnam-era veteran known as Jimmy to neighbors – gunned down a school bus driver and then abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., who was shot trying to protect children on his bus, was buried Sunday. (AP Photo/AL.com, Joe Songer)KATE BRUMBACK and TAMARA LUSH
MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) – A law enforcement official says a 5-year-old has been safely released after a days-long standoff between police and the boy’s abductor.
The law enforcement official briefed on the situation said Monday that Jim Dykes, the man who abducted the boy from a school bus after fatally shooting the bus driver, is dead. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the situation.