By Lateef Mungin, CNN
updated 2:40 AM EST, Wed January 30, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Man tells CNN affiliate WSFA that bus driver was shot four times
- Man takes child hostage in underground bunker
- Incident happened in Midland City, Alabama
(CNN) -- A man boarded a school bus Tuesday, police said, shot the driver, took a 6-year-old boy hostage and is holding the boy in an underground bunker.
The incident, that started in the afternoon, continued late Tuesday evening with authorities still desperately trying to free the young child.
Late in the evening, the man had the child in some sort of underground bunker or storm shelter, and SWAT team members were communicating with him through a PVC pipe, CNN affiliate WSFA reported.
"We will continue to work diligently through the night in an effort to bring closure to this incident as quickly as possible," the Dale County Sheriff's Department said at 11 p.m. CT.
The incident started at about 3:40 p.m. CT near a church in Midland City, Alabama, in the southeastern corner of the state.
Michael Senn, a local pastor, told WSFA that he spoke to several students who had been on the bus.
He said a girl described the shooter getting aboard.
"He told most of them to get off the bus," Senn related. "And then he grabbed a little boy and shot the bus driver four times."
Local authorities did not give an update on the condition of the bus driver but said one person died after the shooting on the bus. WSFA and multiple other local media agencies reported that the bus driver died.
Mike Creel, the suspect 's neighbor, said he also talked to some of the children who escaped the bus. It was a terrifying scene, Creel told the affiliate.
The suspect had initially demanded two children, Creel told WSFA.
"The one child he got a hold of actually fainted," said Creel. "That was the reason he was able to grab him. And now he is hidden in his homemade bomb shelter."
Creel said the suspect had been living in the area for about two years and began building the "bomb shelter" right when he moved in.
Authorities have not released the name of the suspect.
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