Kelly Miller heard the gunshots, then the screams from the school bus.

She could hear her children screaming: "He's got a gun. He took a kid."

Outside, a gunman had just boarded a school bus, killed the driver and grabbed two children, according to authorities. One of the children escaped. The other, a 5-year-old boy, was not so lucky.

The suspect then disappeared with the boy into a nearby well-stocked, underground bunker.

Shaken community

By now, everybody in the small southeastern Alabama town of Midland City knows what happened.

The story has been recounted at the grocery store and at the gas stations, where people trade the latest details about the hostage standoff that entered its fourth day Friday.

It has thrust this town of about 2,300 into the national spotlight, with nightly reports recounting the hostage drama that has shaken this community known for its close vicinity to the "Peanut Capital of the World."

On Tuesday afternoon, bus driver Charles Poland Jr. was shuttling children from school to their homes when he dropped Miller's two boys off and a man boarded the bus.

He demanded that Poland, 66, hand over a child. Poland refused, blocking access to the bus's narrow aisle as at least 21 children escaped out of the back emergency door, according to police.

It's unclear whether the suspected gunman was after a specific child on the bus. Police have said there is no connection between the suspect and the abducted boy, whose identity is being withheld.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told CNN affiliate WMPI that he spoke with the child's mother shortly after the abduction and "she was very distraught."

Police are tight-lipped about a possible motive, and have refused to divulge what, if any, demands the suspect has made to hostage negotiators.

The suspect is holed up in a bunker 4 feet underground and built at least partially out of PVC pipe, authorities have said.

An FBI hostage negotiator was communicating with the alleged gunman through a plastic ventilation pipe in an effort to end the standoff.

"They're taking time and trying to wear him out," said Police Chief James Arrington of Pinckard, who is familiar with details of the case.

Bentley, the governor, said Friday that "the right people (were) in place to work through this problem."

"Patience should be a virtue ... we don't want to make any mistakes," Bentley told WPMI.

On Friday, authorities confirmed what neighbors have been talking about and news outlets around Midland City have reported -- the suspected gunman's identity.

He is Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a Vietnam veteran and retired truck driver who moved to the area about five years ago. Local authorities releasted a photo of Dykes -- a gray-bearded unsmiling image -- along with his home address and a brief physical description -- white male, 6 feet tall, weighing 170 pounds with brown eyes and gray hair -- but provided no new details about any developments in the case.