Post-incident audio recording reveal that bus driver stood up to gunman to protect children

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A six-day bunker hostage standoff in the U.S. began with a school bus driver refusing to hand over children to a gunman who killed him moments later, according to newly released recordings.

After shooting the driver, Jimmy Lee Dykes snatched a 5-year-old boy off the bus and took him into an underground bunker in rural Alabama. FBI stormed the shelter in February, killed Dykes and freed the child.

In a recording aired Friday by ABC News, the 65-year-old Dykes is heard saying, "I need two boys six to eight years old. Six to eight years old. I mean it. Right now! Right now!"

"I can't do it," the 66-year-old bus driver, Charles Poland, responded. "Sorry, you're going to have to shoot me."

"How about I shoot a kid then," Dykes said. Poland refused again.



The FBI confirmed the existence of the recordings but declined to immediately release the material to The Associated Press.

FBI agents told ABC they decided to raid the bunker after it became apparent that Dykes was handling the explosive device more often than he had been at the beginning of the standoff.

Ethan, who turned six shortly after his release, was freed without any physical injuries.

Dykes' motive is still unclear, although he was due in court the day after the confrontation on a charge of firing a weapon at neighbors.