Alabama

[ITCH]

Authorities killed a gunman holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker in rural Alabama on Monday and plucked the child to safety without injury, a local law enforcement official said.
"It's all over," said the official, who asked not to be identified by name because he had not been authorized to discuss the operation that led to the successful rescue of the child.
"The boy is OK," he said.

Took them long enough !!!

 

[NCIC105]

Let's see FBI...7 days..Heck it took them that long to figure out how to open the door!

 

[tricolordad]

No, Jimbo, turn the knob don't chew on it!

 

[BC1]

Prayers answered.
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Now for the idiot awards. Firwst to the judge. Second to the DA. This mutt shot at his neighbor for making a tire track in his speed bump. There were two adults and a baby in the car. The DA only charges him with menacing? Maybe if he brandished but this guy fired... charge him with attempted murder. The judge set bail at $500? Bail should have been much higher in the name of public safety. The nut warning light was flashing bright red and they gave him nack his gun which he later used to kill the busdriver.
.
Wayne Lapierre is right. We're not enforcing laws already on the books. This guy should have been hammered for firing at a familu. I want a resignation from the judge and DA.

 

[nogods]

Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 - a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War 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., was to be buried Sunday.


Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government.


Michael Creel said Dykes kept to himself and listened a lot to conservative talk radio.


"He was very into what's going on with the nation and the politics and all the laws being made. The things he didn't agree with, he would ventilate," he said.


James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, put it differently.


"He's against the government, starting with Obama on down," he said.

Link Removed

 

[ITCH]

Excuse me for saying this but all that fire power and over 7 days to resolve sounds like a bunch of BS to me. I am glad the child is safe but i do not consider the law enforcement that handle this to be hero's in my book they are nothing more then a bunch of cowards in suits that did not want to get dirty. They could of went inside anytime just more BS for the media to eat up.

 

[JLeòdhas]

Glad its over but, more importantly glad the boy is ok.

 

[dcselby1]

Seven days? And the FBI aced the bad guy? Wonder how long it would take them to get our guns?

 

[BluesStringer]

Excuse me for saying this but all that fire power and over 7 days to resolve sounds like a bunch of BS to me. I am glad the child is safe but i do not consider the law enforcement that handle this to be hero's in my book they are nothing more then a bunch of cowards in suits that did not want to get dirty. They could of went inside anytime just more BS for the media to eat up.

And you know this how? Fact is, as despicable a man as Dykes was, tactically, he built that shelter to perfect specs. It was a tornado shelter originally, many of which are easily fortified to be "bunkers." You're right that the media played up the bunker aspect of it, he was a gun freak, right-wing talk-radio listener, yada yada yada, but in rural Alabama tornado shelters are as common as cotton fields. Building it wouldn't have caused any particular attention being trained upon him, and like all but the most elaborate, custom-made "bug-out" shelters, it likely has a one-man entrance.

The lesson most people who fear government going more run amok than they already are should learn from Dykes, is that a backyard shelter might protect you from rioters or whatever other jack-booted thugs might show up to relieve you of your possessions. The cops weren't cowards, they were legitimately out-smarted by a rural Alabama redneck. I'm not praising him. I'm just giving an honest tactical evaluation based on the little information available for now. My evaluation could certainly change as more facts become available, but judging the cops as cowards because they didn't go through a bottleneck entrance one at a time to either be cut down by Dykes one at a time, or cause Dykes to kill the kid that they were trying to save seems much more premature at this early stage than evaluating what I already knew to be true before all this started, that underground shelters are good for more than just tornadoes.

Agree with BC - prayers answered for the boy. Apparently he was healthy enough that the emergency vehicle he left the scene in didn't even have its lights or sirens going. I don't see how anyone can call this anything but a win for the good guys.

Blues

 

[Oldgrunt]

When the man was arrested for menacing, his guns should have been taken away from him until after his court date and final disposition of the case. That was an error by law enforcement and enabled him to shoot the bus driver and take the child. This happened not far from my home and I will give credit to whoever was actually in charge for the way the situation was handled. The bunker the man had constructed was supposed to be a tornado shelter since we do have quite a few of them down here. He outfitted it quite well and, as Blues articulated, he was able to stand off anyone who tried to enter. With only one entrance/exit, he had total control of the situation until the police, FBI, etc. could evaluate the area. They also reported finding some sort of "device" initially which they feared was an explosive and searched for anything else suspicious. He was said to be a "prepper" by some neighbors so he had given considerable thought into what he was doing. The LEOs finally managed to find a way to see him in his bunker and had talked to him. When he became agitated and was seen with his gun, they forced entry into the bunker fearing he might harm the child. It was reported by the media that an explosion (flash bang?) was heard followed by gunshots and the child was retrieved safely. I will not fault law enforcement for taking the time they felt they needed to resolve the situation. Of primary concern was the child's safety and I think they were wise to proceed as they did. It is easy to sit back and criticize when you don't have a dog in the fight, so to speak. For whatever else he did, I am very glad that he took care of the child and let him have his medications and toys to somewhat calm him and, most importantly, for not harming the child. But again, considering the final outcome of the child's safety, I will not condemn the LEOs.

 

[JohnL]

There was a 23 day response time for Benghazi. They might consider this lightning speed. That said, in a legitimate civilian action such as this, discretion is the better part of valor. There is no second chance.

 

[dogshawred]

Waling orders

Excuse me for saying this but all that fire power and over 7 days to resolve sounds like a bunch of BS to me. I am glad the child is safe but i do not consider the law enforcement that handle this to be hero's in my book they are nothing more then a bunch of cowards in suits that did not want to get dirty. They could of went inside anytime just more BS for the media to eat up.

Have we forgotten about how powerful the image is of a nut with a gun holding a disabled 5 year old child hostage plays on the media day after day after day. They had their marching orders and there were people watching the numbers and when they say viewership decline they closed out the situation. Never let a disater go unused and exploited. It doesn't matteer to them what the child is going through, after all it is for the greater good in their mind.
With that said, why would you wait for the child to be in imminent danger before you blow a door to enter, or were they willing to sacrifice the child for the greater good.

 

[Oldgrunt]

For all of you wannabe police tacticians, I was at that site about an hour ago. It is still crawling with LEOs of all types. I saw one out there in a bomb suit worn by EOD personnel so that indicates to me that there is a helluva lot more to this situation than any of us know. The media is still there with their satellites and think there is something of interest yet to be reported, which is even more indicative to me that the police acted properly. Ask yourselves, if that had been your son in there, would you have been so willing to rush in? Wouldn't you want to take every precaution to keep him alive? By bumbling in, not knowing anything about the situation, you may have been killed along with your son and the man. I think cooler heads prevailed. I still say kudos to the LEOs.

 

[BluesStringer]

Have we forgotten about how powerful the image is of a nut with a gun holding a disabled 5 year old child hostage plays on the media day after day after day. They had their marching orders and there were people watching the numbers and when they say viewership decline they closed out the situation. Never let a disater go unused and exploited. It doesn't matteer to them what the child is going through, after all it is for the greater good in their mind.
With that said, why would you wait for the child to be in imminent danger before you blow a door to enter, or were they willing to sacrifice the child for the greater good.

And with that said, I have to ask, why would you "Like" my post above and then post this drivel?

You're saying that a small-town Sheriff in Alabama was complicit in some conspiracy to boost ratings for national media? He was willing to "sacrifice" the boy's life, the son of one of the families he serves in his jurisdiction? What the heck do you base that BS on?

You would be doing me a big favor if you "Unliked" my above post. I fear some who don't know any better might see it and think you and I have something in common, and clearly, we don't. Thanks in advance.

Blues

 

[the dark]

When you lack the intellectual capacity to understand why this was handled the way it was, do what comes naturally: second guess and criticize. The most ignorant comment wins.

This...well, hell, they could have stood off a few days ago and called in Cobras, Apaches, and A10 and torched the whole site. Hostage, what hostage?

 

[dond]

Exactly what was it that prompted him to use the kid as a hostage to begin with? Why were "they" coming after him?

 

[BluesStringer]

Exactly what was it that prompted him to use the kid as a hostage to begin with? Why were "they" coming after him?

Really? I thought it was rather obvious. He was nuttier than a port-a-potty at a peanut festival!