The gunman who fatally shot a school bus driver in Midland city, Alabama and then took a 6-year-old kindergardener hostage yesterday is still holed up in his underground bunker as the standoff with law enforcement continues.

The bus driver, who was shot four times, has been identified as 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr. and is being hailed as a hero for giving his life to protect the nearly two dozen children on their way home from school.

Ryan Lenz at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch blog reports significant details about the shooter, identifying him as 65-year-old Vietnam veteran Jimmy Lee Dykes:

Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff’s Office, told 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 said. “He was standoffish, didn’t socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type.”

Though the child hostage has yet to be named, the authorities believe he was chosen at random. He must be scared out of his mind right now, especially since he reportedly has Aspergers and ADHD. Luckily, police have been able to get him his meds and are, according to Potok, communicating with the shooter “through a PVC pipe leading into the bunker.” Meanwhile, all nearby schools are closed for the rest of the week.

More from Lenz:

It was not immediately clear what prompted Dykes to storm the bus, but his motives appear to be related to a menacing charge in December. That month, Dykes pointed a gun at his neighbor, James Edward Davis Dr., who told the Dothan Eagle that Dykes accused him of driving on his yard. Dykes was scheduled to have a bench trial today on the charge, and an unidentified girl who Dykes released from the bus told reporters that Dykes was referring to his upcoming case.

A neighbor of Dykes, who identified himself as Mike Creel, said that Dykes moved on to his property about two years ago and began building an underground bunker, measuring about four by six feet and eight feet deep, right away, according to WSFA-TV. “It’s the craziest thing,” Davis told the Dothan Eagle. “He will be outside in his yard digging at 2:30 in the morning.”

Hatewatch also learned this morning that a “Jimmy Lee Dykes” had a protective order entered against him on behalf of  “Melissa Steed, two minor children,” according to a Feb. 9, 2011, listing in the Coweta American, a small Oklahoma newspaper. It’s unclear if the hostage taker in Alabama is the same man.