Former FBI agent provides hostage situation insight

A former FBI agent joined our news partner Action News on Wednesday to give an expert's perspective on the child hostage situation in Alabama near Dothan.

Police, SWAT teams and the FBI are at a rural property in Alabama where a man was believed to be holed up in a bunker after fatally shooting the driver of a school bus and kidnapping a 6 year-old passenger.

The situation began Tuesday afternoon and continued well into Wednesday morning.

Dale Carson the FBI agents will simply "wait out" the suspect since he can't go anywhere from his location.

One of the difficulties he noted is that authorities have limited knowledge of the bunker, which is believed to have been built by the suspect.

The relationship between the child and the suspect is unknown, but Carson says it's reasonable to assume there's a connection because parts of the abduction seem pre-arranged.

He says it's not unusual in situations like this for the suspect to not have demands.

Carson says negotiators typically been to exchange things with the suspect - food, newspapers, medication, etc.  The hope is that eventually the suspect will exchange the child.

As of the publication of this article, the hostage situation in Alabama is ongoing.