Officials: Boy safe, abductor dead after standoff

photo A sign encouraging prayer for a 5-year-old boy being held hostage, hangs on a fence surrounding Midland City Elementary school Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2013, in Midland City, Ala. Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 - a decorated Vietnam-era veteran 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., who was shot trying to protect children on his bus, was buried Sunday. (AP Photo/AL.com, Joe Songer)

KATE BRUMBACK and TAMARA LUSH

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) - A law enforcement official says a 5-year-old has been safely released after a days-long standoff between police and the boy's abductor.

The law enforcement official briefed on the situation said Monday that Jim Dykes, the man who abducted the boy from a school bus after fatally shooting the bus driver, is dead. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the situation.

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