Neighbor: Suspect beat dog

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Standoff drags into 3rd day as man holds child in bunker

The sheriff says investigators do not believe the boy has been harmed A gunman is holding the 6-year-old hostage in an underground bunker Authorities get coloring books, crayons and medicine to the captive boy Authorities canceled a news conference late Wednesday night

Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- Somewhere underneath this red Alabama dirt is a 6-year-old boy.

A kindergartener, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;

A 6-year-old who needs daily medication;

A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.

Many details have been released about the boy's abductor:

How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he'd shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute;

Charles Poland was fatally shot in Alabama on Tuesday.

How he boarded a stopped school bus Tuesday and shot dead the bus driver;

How he worked on the bunker in the middle of the night for more than a year.

But as the sun rose again on Midland City on Thursday, many more questions remain:

Neighbors: Bunker suspect is strange Boy, 6, held hostage in Alabama Bus driver shot; students 'in shock'

How deep is the bunker?

What's in it beside the man and the boy?

How are they keeping warm when temperatures have dipped into the 30s in the area?

Is the boy safe?

And most importantly, why him?

The driver

The gunman stormed into the school bus Tuesday afternoon and demanded that the driver hand him a child.

The driver, 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr., was a gentle Bible-reading man who could not stand to discipline the children on his bus because it hurt his heart, the Dothan Eagle newspaper reported.

When he refused the demand, police said, the gunman shot him several times as 22 horrified children scrambled for cover.

But the man was able to grab the boy and drag him to his underground bunker.

And the standoff began.

The suspect

Authorities have not released the name of the suspected gunman. But neighbors and news outlets around Midland City identified him as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and a retired truck driver.

Neighbor Jimmy Davis told CNN that Dykes began digging a hole on his property soon after he moved in down the road from him.

Davis, who works a night shift, said Dykes worked on his bunker in the middle of the night -- every other night, between 2 and 3 a.m., for a year and a half.

He was friendly and welcoming and told Davis the hole would be a storm shelter.

But Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch that Dykes had "anti-America" views.

"His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD," Byrd told the civil rights group. "He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type."

The court date

On Wednesday, the day before the standoff began, Dykes was supposed to appear in court to answer to charges that he'd shot at Davis during a December argument over the dirt road that separated their homes.

Davis was moving out when his truck -- hauling a trailer -- dug ruts into the dirt speed bump that Dykes had built up across the road.

Dykes "got mad about what he saw" and stood by the side of the road, yelling and cursing, said Davis' mother, Claudia.

He then ran to his van, got a pistol and fired two shots at the truck, the Davises said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, including Claudia Davis' 6-month-old daughter, who was inside.

The Wednesday court date in nearby Ozark was for menacing, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to six months in jail.

Another neighbor, Ronda Wilbur, said Dykes beat her dog to death with a lead pipe and then bragged to her husband about it.

"He made it very clear that any animals or people that came onto his property would be killed," she said.

Wilbur said she complained to animal control authorities and thought that this would stop the behavior.

"He just got increasingly more bizarre," Wilbur said.

The boy

Very little information has been released about the boy.

One thing is for certain: He didn't know Dykes, State Rep. Steve Clouse said.

Through a PVC pipe that extends into the bunker, authorities have pleaded with the suspect to let the boy go -- to no avail.

The man agreed to let police send down coloring books, crayons and the prescription medicine the little boy desperately needs for Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But nothing else has changed.

As the standoff dragged into Thursday morning, the boy's parents were doing their best to hold it together.

They were "holding on by a thread," Clouse said.

The scene

Early Thursday morning, dozens of law enforcement vehicles clogged the dead-end dirt road that leads to Dykes' house. They were from local police, the FBI, even Homeland Security.

Authorities evacuated neighbors. Officials closed schools in three nearby districts for the week.

But with little movement, police have been loath to share much with the media.

Authorities called off a planned news conference late Wednesday night, saying there was nothing new to report.

At an earlier news conference Wednesday, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said he had "no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."

A reporter asked what the community could do to help.

"Pray," the sheriff said.

"Pray."

5 subjects Hagel should expect at his hearing

Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday The former senator split with the GOP over the war in Iraq Some feel Hagel is too cool to Israel, not hard enough on Iran He supported the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy

(CNN) -- When the Senate Armed Services Committee is gaveled into session Thursday, Chuck Hagel is likely to face some sharp questions from many of his old colleagues.

If confirmed as secretary of defense, the one-time infantry sergeant and twice-wounded Vietnam veteran would be the first former enlisted man to lead the Pentagon. The former Republican senator from Nebraska gets his chance to answer questions Thursday morning during his confirmation hearing, and here are five subjects where he can expect them:

1. Afghanistan

If confirmed, Hagel will be tasked with closing out the longest war in U.S. history, one that has now lasted more than 11 years. He opposed President Barack Obama's decision to send another 30,000 troops into the conflict in 2009, telling the National Journal, "I think we're marking time as we slaughter more young people." The Obama administration now plans to pull combat troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, replacing them with a training mission to advise Afghan forces, steps Hagel will oversee if confirmed.

Biden: Why the GOP's wrong about Hagel Hagel confirmation fight starts Thursday Chuck Hagel's other war Top generals back Hagel

2. Gays and women in the military

As a senator, Hagel supported the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that kept gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. He told The New York Times in 1999, "The U.S. armed forces aren't some social experiment." And the nominee's opponents have seized on his 1998 criticism of a Clinton administration State Department nominee as being "openly, aggressively gay," a remark for which Hagel apologized in December.

Now he's been asked to lead a department that has allowed gays and lesbians since 2011. And he'll be left to implement the plans outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last week to open front-line combat units to women, which allow the generals and admirals to ask for exemptions for certain posts. As defense secretary, Hagel would have to make the final call on those requests.

3. The Big One

Hagel is among the backers of the "Global Zero" movement, which has called for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons under a worldwide regime of inspections. He was a co-author of a 2011 study by the group that called for reducing the current U.S. arsenal of about 5,000 warheads and bombs to about 900, a force Global Zero says would be enough to deter potential attackers while reducing the risk of proliferation or nuclear terrorism.

That position has raised some eyebrows, since Hagel would be the steward of that American arsenal if confirmed. In a recent statement, Hagel's co-authors say their views and his "are in the U.S. national security interest and squarely in the mainstream," while keeping nuclear stockpiles at Cold War levels aren't. And he's not the only high-profile figure to ultimately endorse the idea of a world without the bomb: Obama held out the same hope in 2009, as have presidents dating back to Ronald Reagan.

4. Cutting the Pentagon

Within weeks of taking office, Hagel could be forced to implement steep cuts in the Pentagon budget as a result of "sequestration," the automatic spending cuts set up in the deal that ended the 2011 standoff over the federal debt ceiling. At the beginning of the year, Congress voted to put off those cuts for two months.

Panetta has called those across-the-board cuts of about 9.4% "potentially devastating" and urged Congress to find another way to reduce spending. But Hagel has called the defense budget "bloated" and said the Pentagon "needs to be pared down." Look for questions about how Hagel would wield that knife.

5. The Middle East: Iraq, Iran and Israel

This has been the biggest source of criticism for Hagel since Obama picked him to replace Leon Panetta in December and the rawest nerve for the Republicans with whom Hagel broke over the war in Iraq.

Hagel supported the U.S. invasion in 2003. But by 2007, he had come to believe it was a "blunder" and joined Democrats who tried to force the Bush administration to withdraw American troops. "He has long severed his ties with the Republican party," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told CNN's "State of the Union."

Republicans have accused him of being too cool to Israel, the leading U.S. ally in the Middle East, and too soft on Iran. Hagel has called for direct talks with the Islamic republic, which Western powers suspect is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, and he complained in 2007 that the "Jewish lobby" in Washington scared lawmakers away from supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But others have rallied around him, including his friend Rabbi Aryeh Azriel of Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska. Azriel said Hagel is "definitely a friend of Israel" and "has wonderful, fresh ideas to try to re-engage the discussion about the Middle East."

An Obama administration official working on the senator's confirmation hearing told CNN that Hagel will testify that he believes Iran is a state sponsor of terror; he supports the president's sanctions strategy against Iran and believes all options should be on the table including the military option.

Giffords' voice halting but not weak

NEW: Sources: Senators from both parties discuss a bill on background checks Senators and witnesses tangle over politics and ideology A Senate committee holds the first hearing on gun violence since the Sandy Hook massacre Gun owners won't accept new restrictions or blame for crime, NRA official says

Can there be a solution to America's gun problems? Anderson Cooper looks at both sides of the debate in "Guns Under Fire: an AC360º Town Hall Special" Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

Washington (CNN) -- Her voice was halting, but not weak.

Two years after being shot in the head by a gunman at a political event, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords appeared at the first congressional hearing since last month's Connecticut school massacre to urge Congress to act now on gun violence.

"Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something," Giffords said in a rare public appearance Wednesday, reading a statement that acknowledged her injuries made it difficult to speak.

"It will be hard, but the time is now," she told the packed hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Teen who performed at Obama inaugural events shot dead in Chicago

The panel also heard from voices on both sides of the gun control issue in the nearly four-hour hearing that illustrated the deep political and ideological divisions over a longstanding issue.

National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre blamed the government for failing to enforce existing gun laws and said new restrictions, including background checks, won't stop criminals from using weapons in violent crime.

"Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals, nor do we believe that government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families," he said.

Democratic senators led by California's Dianne Feinstein, who is proposing a ban on semi-automatic rifles and ammunition magazines exceeding 10 rounds, argued that restricting access to such firepower and expanding background checks to as many gun sales as possible will help.

Giffords' husband, retired astronaut and naval aviator Mark Kelly, called for a "careful and civil conversation" on new gun limits and a broad new acceptance of society's responsibility to keep firearms from dangerous people.

"Our rights are paramount. But our responsibilities are serious," he said. "And as a nation, we are not taking responsibility for the gun rights our founding fathers have conferred upon us."

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Gabrielle Giffords: We must do something Mark Kelly: Work together to save lives NRA ad criticizes President Obama Behind the NRA's rise to power NRA: Gun control will fail in Congress

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee's Democratic chairman from Vermont, called for stronger background checks and a crackdown on so-called straw purchases, in which people who can pass background checks buy weapons for others. Leahy has proposed a measure to increase penalties for straw purchasers.

However, Leahy avoided endorsing an expanded ban on the assault-style weapons called for by President Barack Obama and Feinstein.

"Second Amendment rights are the foundation on which our discussion rests. They are not at risk," Leahy said. "But lives are at risk when responsible people fail to stand up for laws that will keep guns out of the hands of those who will use them to commit mass murder. I ask that we focus our discussion on additional statutory measures to better protect our children and all Americans."

The hearing came a few weeks after Obama announced legislative proposals aimed at curbing gun violence following the December 14 shootings that left 20 children and six adults dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. The shooter, Adam Lanza, also killed his mother and himself.

How the violent mentally ill can buy guns

Obama's proposals include a ban on popular semi-automatic rifles that mimic assault weapons, a limit of 10 rounds per magazine, and universal background checks for anyone buying a gun, whether at a store or in a private sale. Guns sold through private sales currently avoid background checks -- the so-called gun show loophole.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said at Wednesday's hearing that he is in talks with colleagues -- including several who are ranked highly by the NRA -- on possible legislation to expand background checks on private gun sales.

Sources close to both Schumer and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma told CNN the two were in serious discussions about co-sponsoring a bill to strengthen background checks.

The NRA, which is the public face of the powerful gun lobby, opposes many government limits on gun ownership as a violation of the constitutional right to bear arms.

LaPierre insisted Wednesday that the current background check system doesn't work, so expanding it would only create an unmanageable government bureaucracy instead of reducing gun crime in the country.

Quick draw: How the NRA's LaPierre keeps his enemies guessing

"The fact is the law right now is a failure, the way it's working," he said. "The fact is that you have 76,000-some people that have been denied under the present law. Only 44 were prosecuted. You're letting them go. They're walking the streets."

Instead, he called for better enforcement of all existing gun laws and creating "an immediate blanket of security around our children" by putting armed guards at all the nation's schools.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney called LaPierre's statistic an intentional diversion "from another issue that is part of this, which is the need for broader and universal background checks."

"This is being pushed as a reason not to do something that the overwhelming majority of the American people support," Carney said, later adding that "the skepticism you're hearing" comes from those "who don't want to do anything on this issue."

During the hearing, an exchange between LaPierre and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, showed the deeply held positions on each side.

After LaPierre complained that expanded background checks would only burden law-abiding citizens and said they make no sense because criminals ignore the system, Durbin commented that the NRA official missed the point.

Obama's gun violence measures: Would they work?

"The criminals won't go to purchase the guns because there will be a background check," Durbin said. "We'll stop them from the original purchase. You missed that point completely. And I think it's basic."

LaPierre responded that it was Durbin who failed to understand, adding as Leahy banged his gavel for order that "if you are not prosecuting them, you are not even stopping them."

He and other opponents of more gun control also depicted extreme scenarios of Americans under threat in their homes and at schools to make the case for access to semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.

"We all know that homicidal maniacs, criminals and the insane don't abide by the law," LaPierre said.

Another witness, Gayle Trotter of the Independent Women's Forum, repeatedly described scenes of women at home with their children needing weapons that would be banned under Feinstein's proposal to fight off bigger, stronger male attackers.

"An assault weapon in the hands of a young woman defending her babies in her home becomes a defense weapon and the peace of mind that a woman has as she's facing three, four, five violent attackers, intruders in her home with her children screaming in the background, the peace of mind that she has knowing that she has a scary looking gun gives her more courage when she's fighting hard and violent criminals," Trotter said. "If we ban these types of assault weapons, you are putting women at a great disadvantage."

Other witnesses and senators who support tougher regulations countered that the constitutional right to bear arms can be limited, for example, by the existing ban on private citizens possessing grenade launchers and other military weaponry.

Why would someone own a military-style rifle?

"I think most people believe that, sure, we could have guards at schools," Feinstein said, making a reference to the Columbine, Colorado, school massacre in 1999 in which two students killed 13 people before shooting themselves. "I'm well aware that at Columbine there was a deputy sheriff who was armed who actually took a shot but couldn't hit the shooter there. The question comes, what do you do about the malls then? What do you do about our movie theaters? What do you do about businesses. We can't have a totally armed society."

The police chief of Baltimore County in Maryland, James Johnson, endorsed what he called the holistic approach urged by Obama to create a system that reduces access to guns for people who shouldn't have them.

"The best way to stop a bad guy from getting a gun in the first place is a good background check," said Johnson, the chairman of the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence.

However, Denver University law professor David Kopel said the Supreme Court made clear in a Washington, D.C., case that gun controls could not include weapons used commonly by law-abiding citizens, such as the top-selling AR-15 semi-automatic rifle that Feinstein's legislation would ban.

NRA chief: Obama makes 'mockery' of American freedoms

The hearing showed agreement in concept on some issues, such as strengthening mental health screening. In general, though, it appeared to do little to create common ground on the issue.

Leahy said he hopes the committee will begin considering legislation next month.

The NRA's membership has spiked by 500,000 people since the Newtown shooting, bringing its number to more than 4.5 million, the group said Wednesday.

In the meantime, Kelly and Giffords have launched Americans for Responsible Solutions to push for gun control.

On Tuesday, Kelly said that despite the Tucson, Arizona, shooting that wounded his wife and killed six others, he and Giffords still support the Second Amendment, which guarantees Americans the right to possess firearms.

"But we really need to do something about the safety of our kids and our communities. It's gotten really out of hand," he said.

After Wednesday's hearing, Kelly made a point of approaching LaPierre to shake his hand as media cameras recorded the moment.

Why new laws could miss America's bigger gun problem

Teen who performed at inaugural events shot dead

NEW: Chicago mayor: "We have a responsibility to see a stop to this" Hadiya Pendleton, 15, was shot dead in Chicago on Tuesday Last week she performed in events surrounding President Obama's inauguration "Just a matter of days after the happiest day of her life, she's gone," Sen. Dick Durbin says

Chicago (CNN) -- A teen who performed at events around President Barack Obama's inauguration was shot to death in Chicago this week, and now her story has become part of the debate in Washington over gun violence nationwide.

The shooting death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton came up in a U.S. Senate hearing and a White House press briefing Wednesday.

"She was an honor student and a majorette," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois. Performing at inaugural events last week "was the highlight of her young, 15-year-old life," he said.

Speaking at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, Durbin mentioned Pendleton's death as he argued that more must be done to stop gun crimes.

Giffords: 'Too many children dying'

"Yesterday, in a rainstorm after school, she raced to a shelter. A gunman came in and shot her dead," he said. "Just a matter of days after the happiest day of her life, she's gone."

The park shelter where she was shot is just a mile from Obama's home in Chicago.

White House spokesman Jay Carney described her death as a "terrible tragedy."

"The president has more than once, when he talks about gun violence in America, referred not just to the horror of Newtown or Aurora or Virginia Tech or Oak Creek but to shootings on the corner in Chicago or other parts of the country," Carney told reporters. "And this is just another example of the problem we need to deal with."

2013 has gotten off to a deadly start in Chicago -- Pendleton was the year's 42nd murder victim. No arrests have been made in the case, police said Wednesday.

In 2012, 506 people were slain in the city.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel described Pendleton Wednesday as "what's best in our city, a child going to school who takes a final exam, who had just been to the inaugural."

"We have a responsibility to see a stop to this," he said. "And all of us are responsible."

Pendleton was shot just blocks away from her high school on the south side of Chicago, CNN affiliate WGN reported.

LaPierre, the NRA's heavyweight

Police told CNN affiliates that the teenager had no gang affiliation and likely was not the intended target.

"There has to be an end to it. It's just too much. The children cannot go to school. They're in fear," Bonita O'Bannion, who lives in the area where the shooting occurred, told CNN affiliate WBBM.

Carney said the president and first lady's thoughts and prayers are with Pendleton's family.

"And as the president said, we will never be able to eradicate every act of evil in this country," Carney said, "but if we can save even one child's life, we have an obligation to try when it comes to the scourge of gun violence."

How the violent mentally ill can buy guns