In this I-Team Report: the end of the week-long standoff that was followed around the world.
Not only end did police end the standoff, but they saved the life of the little boy who had been held in an underground bunker, held at the hands of a crazed 65-year-old kidnapper.
After waiting out the abductor for almost seven days, late Monday afternoon, authorities say they saw a gun in the hands of the man holding the boy and moved in.
After patience ran out, Monday afternoon, prayers were answered. Authorities are believed to have used a stun grenade as they stormed an underground bunker, a 4-by-6-foot area dug out 8 feet underground.
In the hole with the 5-year-old boy named Ethan was James Lee Dykes. Last Tuesday, Dykes commandeered a school bus, killed the driver and kidnapped the boy.
Since then, police had been communicating with Dykes through a plastic pipe he constructed from inside the bunker to the surface. Authorities seemed willing to let the situation play out.
Monday afternoon, after spotting Dykes with a gun in hand, the FBI moved in, stunning the gunman and rescuing Ethan, who has Asperger's.
As federal agents took the bunker, authorities say Dykes ended up shot to death.
"The child appears physically unharmed and is being treated at a local hospital," said the FBI's Steve Richardson. "The subject is deceased. The resolution of this matter is a result of collaboration of law enforcement at all levels."
With Dykes and the boy 8 feet underground, authorities now say they were able to thread a miniature camera into the bunker to keep an eye on what was happening. That is how investigators determined that there was an imminent threat.
