Update 2/4/13: Authorities stormed the bunker this afternoon and rescued the little boy. His captor was killed.
The retired truck driver who is holding a five-year-old child hostage in rural Alabama is accused of violently beating a dog to death prior to the current shooting and kidnapping situation.
According to Thursday's CBS News, a neighbor of the suspect, Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, told the Associated Press that Dykes beat her 120-lb dog to death with a lead pipe.
The dog's owner, Ronda Wilbur, said that Dykes beat her dog with the pipe because the dog had wandered onto his property. The dog survived for one week before succumbing to his injuries.
Dykes apparently had no remorse for his actions. Wilbur told the AP that:
"He said his only regret was he didn't beat him to death all the way,"
"If a man can kill a dog, and beat it with a lead pipe and brag about it, it's nothing until it's going to be people."
Wilbur's insight was spot on.
On Tuesday, Dykes shot and killed a school bus driver who attempted to block the man from taking children off of the bus.
After killing the driver, identified as Charles Albert Poland Jr., Dykes holed up in a bunker in Midland City with the young boy, who is believed to be an innocent victim of a random kidnapping.
A tense standoff has been underway since that time. According to law enforcement officials, the standoff is not expected to end soon.
Those familiar with Dykes describe him as a "menacing figure," who is anti-social and violent. He has repeatedly chased people from his property, and was due in court this week for shooting at a neighbor.
A neighbor told the NY Times:
“He has been like a time bomb waiting to go off.”
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