Alabama hostage standoff ends with child safe, gunman dead

Law enforcement officials continue to man a command center set up at Destiny Church near the scene of a shooting and hostage taking that happened five days ago near Midland City, Alabama. Credit: Reuters

Authorities killed a gunman holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker in rural Alabama on Monday and plucked the child to safety without injury, a local law enforcement official said.

“It’s all over,” said the official, who asked not to be identified by name because he had not been authorized to discuss the operation that led to the successful rescue of the child.

“The boy is OK,” he said.