Alabama hostage standoff ends with boy safe and murder suspect dead Agents stormed the bunker after hostage talks with Jimmy Lee Dykes broke down, police said. Photograph: Landov/AL.COM FBI agents raided the backyard bunker of a murder suspect holding a five-year-old boy on Monday, freeing the child whom they believed was in "imminent danger." By the time the raid was over, the suspect, Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was dead, FBI spokesman Steve Richardson said. The boy was unharmed and was receiving treatment at a local hospital. Officials have said the child has Asperger's syndrome. Agents stormed the bunker after hostage talks with Dykes broke down, Richardson said. "Within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated, and Mr Dykes was observed holding a gun," Richardson said in a news conference. Believing the child was in imminent danger, agents entered the bunker and rescued the child. Richardson did not say whether shots were fired. Last week Dykes, a military veteran, boarded a school bus and shot the driver dead before kidnapping the boy, according to witness accounts. The funeral of the driver, Charles Albert Poland, 65, was held on Sunday. Poland has been hailed as a hero for protecting the other children on board the bus. "This man was a true hero who was willing to give up his life so others might live," governor Robert Bentley said in a news release after learning of the boy's rescue. Neighbors described Dykes as a disturbed man who feared a government raid on his property, which he sometimes patrolled with guns. Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes joined the navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969, the Associated Press reported. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. Dykes had returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving into a rural area. Ronda Wilbur, a neighbor of Dykes who said the man beat her dog to death last year with a pipe, said she was relieved to be done with the stress of knowing Dykes was patrolling his yard and willing to shoot at anyone or anything that trespassed. The nightmare is over. It's been a long couple of years of having constant stress," she said.