Arizona gunman

[LadyBlue]

The body of a 70-year-old suspected gunman, who allegedly killed one person in a Phoenix office complex Wednesday and wounded two others, was found in the bushes near his abandoned car.

Arthur Douglas Harmon allegedly opened fire at the end of a mediation session Wednesday morning at a three-story office complex in north-central Phoenix, police said.

One man -- identified by police as 48-year-old Steve Singer -- died hours after the shooting. Lawyer Mark Hummels, who was critically wounded in the shooting, is not expected to survive, according to his law firm. A 32-year-old woman suffered non-life threatening injuries.

"We believe the two men were the targets. It was not a random shooting," said Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Thompson said the gunman arrived at the office building about 10:30 a.m. and got into a dispute with someone, a conflict that escalated to the point where the suspect drew a gun and shot three people.

Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/31/phoenix-police-hunt-for-gunman-who-injured-5-3-critically-inside-office-complex/#ixzz2JbmLgFxS

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[LadyBlue]

Negotiators talking to Alabama man holding child hostage through pipe

A standoff in rural Alabama entered a fourth day Friday as police surrounded an underground bunker where a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting the driver dead.

Police say the suspect, identified by neighbors as Jimmy Lee s, built the bunker himself and has been known to stay in it for days. The bunker is six by eight feet and is four feet underground. Police have been communicating with the suspect through a 60-foot PVC pipe.

Speaking into the pipe, hostage negotiators tried again Thursday to talk the 65-year-old retired truck driver into freeing the boy. One local official said the child had been crying for his parents.

The normally quiet red clay road leading to the bunker was teeming Friday with more than a dozen police cars and trucks, a fire truck, a helicopter, officers from multiple agencies and news media near Midland City, population 2,300.

Police vehicles have come and gone steadily for hours from the command post, a small church taken over for that use.

Early Friday, activity picked up when a team in military-style uniforms, many toting weapons, got out of a big van in the pre-dawn chill and moved into a staging area. One appeared to be dog handler.

But after a chilly night, the activity of law enforcement appeared to slow approaching dawn though a mobile command center remained lit with bright lights. Overhead, a small aircraft with blinking lights flew wide circles high above the man's property early Friday. An ambulance was parked nearby.

The boy being held was watching TV and getting medication sent from home, according to state Rep. Steve Clouse, who met with authorities and visited the boy's family. Clouse said the bunker had food and electricity.

Authorities lowered medicine into the bunker for the boy after his captor agreed to it, Clouse said.

s was known around the neighborhood as a menacing figure 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.

Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/01/driver-fatally-shot-aboard-alabama-school-bus/#ixzz2Je29mERn

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[LadyBlue]

Now this man should have been somehow made to seek help. Anyone who could beat an innocent animal and kil it using a steel pipe has no fucking business being permitted to walk the streets. Now look what happened. Why has no one stepped in before this? AND, he carries a gun as well. Wowwie!

[LadyBlue]

Sheriff thanks suspect for taking care of boy held hostage, as Alabama standoff continues

The Alabama mother of the 5-year-old boy held hostage in an underground bunker for five days is 'hanging on by a thread,' said a local politician who visited the woman.

State Rep. Steve Clouse, who represents the Midland City area, said the mother told him that the boy has Asperger's syndrome as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said in a briefing with reporters that Jimmy Lee s has told them he has blankets and an electric heater in the bunker. Olson said s has allowed authorities to deliver coloring books, medication and toys for the boy.

"I want to thank him for taking care of our boy," Olson said. "That's very important."

Negotiators were still trying to persuade s, 65, considered a loner by many, to surrender. Police have said they believe the Vietnam-era veteran fatally shot a school bus driver on Tuesday, and then abducted the boy from the bus and disappeared into the home-made bunker.

While police were mostly staying mum about the delicate negotiations, it fell to neighbors to fill in the blanks about s, described by some as a menacing figure who held anti-government views.
www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/02/alabama-standoff-enters-third-day-as-official-says-child-held-hostage/#ixzz2JlvKZ5Ig

First picture of Alabama kidnapping suspect
video.foxnews.com/v/2135074187001/first-picture-alabama-kidnapping-suspect?intcmp=related?playlist_id=921261890001

[LadyBlue]

Alabama Hostage Standoff Enters Sixth Day, Boy Being Made 'As Comfortable As Possible'

A retired Alabama truck driver is making his 5-year-old hostage "as comfortable as possible" in an underground bunker, authorities said, as they enter the sixth day of negotiations.

Jimmy Lee s, 65, has allowed negotiators to send medicine for the boy, who has only been identified by his first name, Ethan.

Other comfort items, including potato chips, coloring books and toys, have been sent into the bunker for Ethan through a ventilation pipe that leads into the 6-by-8-foot subterranean hideout four feet underground.

"I want to thank him for taking care of our child, that is very important," Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said at a news conference on Saturday.
abcnews.go.com/US/alabama-hostage-standoff-enters-sixth-day-boy-made/story?id=18390812

[LadyBlue]

Officials: Alabama gunman dead, child hostage safe

A 5-year-old boy held hostage nearly a week is safe and the Alabama man who held him hostage is dead, law enforcement officials say.

[Update 5:46 p.m. ET]

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley issued the following statement:

"Shortly after 3 p.m., I spoke with Col. Hugh McCall of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier. They informed me that law enforcement had breached the bunker, the child was safe and the abductor was killed.

"I want to thank the law enforcement, first responders and all additional personnel who worked tireless hours to bring this situation to a resolution. They performed heroic efforts, and they should be praised for how they handled themselves in a professional manner.

"I am thankful that the child who was abducted is now safe. I am so happy this little boy can now be reunited with his family and friends. We will all continue to pray for the little boy and his family as they recover from the trauma of the last several days.

"At the same time, we also want to remember the family and friends of the bus driver - Charles Poland, Jr. This man was a true hero who was willing to give up his life so others might live. We are all inspired by his courage and bravery.
news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/04/official-alabama-gunman-dead-child-hostage-safe/comment-page-2/