After seven grueling days, negotiations between the FBI and a kidnapper had broken down in southern Alabama.
Fears elevated when agents saw the kidnapper, Jimmy Lee Dykes, with a gun, NBC News reports.
A decision had to be made.
“Within the past 24 hours negotiations deteriorated and Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun,” Special Agent in Charge Stephen Richardson, of the Mobile, Ala., office, said at a press briefing Monday. “At this point, FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child.”
Dykes was killed in the standoff, and the child was unharmed, NBC New reported.