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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAlabama Man Shoots School Bus Driver And Retreats Into Bunker With 6-Year-Old
Neighbors described the gunman as a paranoid and combative man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun.
The gunman, identified by neighbors as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 65-year-old retired truck driver, was supposed to appear in court Wednesday to answer charges he shot at his neighbors in a dispute over a speed bump.
The standoff dragged on through the night and into the afternoon Wednesday after the gunman boarded a stopped school bus in the small town of Midland City on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. Sheriff Wally Olsen said the man shot the driver when he refused to let a 6-year-old child off the bus. The gunman then took the boy away.
The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland, Jr., 66, was hailed by School Superintendent Donny Bynum as a hero who gave his life to protect 21 students.
About 50 vehicles from federal, state and local agencies were clustered Wednesday at the end of a dirt road near Dykes' home. Authorities gave no details on the standoff, and it was not immediately clear whether they had made contact with Dykes or he had made any demands.
...
"He's very paranoid," her husband said. "He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and shotgun."
"Everybody up the hill tried to avoid him," he said.
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Court records showed Dykes had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to face a charge of menacing some neighbors as they drove by his house last month.
Claudia Davis said he yelled and fired shots at her, her son and her baby grandson over damage Dykes claimed their pickup truck did to a makeshift speed bump in the dirt road. No one was hurt.
"Before this happened I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundromat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck, and he just stared and stared and stared at me."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/alabama-man-shoots-bus-driver-2013-1
Why can't we lock these people up before others are murdered?
bongbong
(5,436 posts)Dykes is a law-abiding responsible gun owner and a "Good Guy".
Wait, I meant to say "Up to the microsecond before the bullet tore into Poland's body, Dykes was a law-abiding responsible gun owner and a Good Guy"
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)Wayne LaPierre is a complete and irredeemable fucking asshole. He speaks neither for me, nor for any other gun-owner I personally know.
(Surprised?)
Daemonaquila
(1,712 posts)Thanks, but I'll happily exchange a little more risk for basic constitutional rights. Preventative detention because someone *might* hurt others has no place in civilized society.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)It is grounds for arrest, trial and imprisonment if true.
mokawanis
(4,438 posts)He threatened to shoot kids for being on his property and was facing charges for menacing some neighbors....and he was still allowed to possess a gun?
orwell
(7,769 posts)JI7
(89,244 posts)always going on about how they need to protect themselves and everyone is out to get them. yet they are the danger in most cases.
btw, why isn't there more on that piece of shit who shot and killed the young latino man just for driving to his house by accident ?
galileoreloaded
(2,571 posts)now see how silly it sounds when you generalize.
Christ this place is full of woo-woo's these days.
nolabear
(41,956 posts)Some people should not have access to guns just like the blind shouldn't drive.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)standing his ground against pretty much everyone in his community. And he has every right to patrol his 1/8 acre lot every night with a shotgun. Gotta watch out for them brown people from the city comin' to rape and pillage.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)What is wrong with people?
madinmaryland
(64,931 posts)Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)And your right to be violent, intimidating and insane with military grade weapons will be defended by the NRA and civil libertarians alike.
newfie11
(8,159 posts)I sure hope this ends well for the little boy.