Negotiators talking through pipe to Ala. captor in bunker; standoff now in its 3rd full day

Law officers at the Dale County hostage scene in Midland City, Ala. on Thursday morning, Jan. 31, 2013. A gunman holed up in a bunker with a 6-year-old hostage has kept law officers at bay since the standoff began when he killed a school bus driver and dragged the boy away, authorities said. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Mickey Welsh) (The Associated Press)

prev next

Law enforcement personnel load provisions into a bus during the third day of a hostage crisis involving a 5-year-old boy, in Midland City, Ala, Thursday, Jan 31, 2013. A standoff in rural Alabama went into a second full day Thursday as police surrounded an underground bunker where a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting the driver dead. The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect the 21 students aboard the bus. (AP Photo/The Dothan Eagle, Jay Hare) (The Associated Press)

In this undated photo released by the Dale County Board of Education, bus driver Charles Albert Poland, Jr., is shown. A standoff in rural Alabama went into a second full day Thursday as police surrounded an underground bunker where a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting Poland, the driver dead. Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect the 21 students aboard the bus. (AP Photo/ Dale County Board of Education) (The Associated Press)

More than three days after he allegedly shot a school bus driver dead, grabbed a kindergartner and slipped into an underground bunker, Jimmy Lee Dykes is showing no signs of turning himself over to police.

Hostage negotiators in Midland City, Ala., tried Thursday to persuade the 65-year-old retired truck driver to release the 5-year-old, who has Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But they acknowledged Dykes could hold out for days.

James Arrington is police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard. He told reporters camped out at the site Thursday that Dykes has been known to hole up in the underground bunker resembling a tornado shelter for as many as eight days.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said late Thursday that authorities were still communicating with the suspect.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/negotiators-talking-through-pipe-to-ala-captor-in-bunker-standoff-now-in-its-3rd-full-day