Former SEAL's Shooting Will Shadow Obama Gun Control Speech

The death of the man dubbed "America's deadliest sniper," an ex-member of SEAL Team 3 with more than 150 confirmed kills, killed Saturday in Texas, allegedly by a war vet he was trying to help, is reinvigorating the national conversation on gun control.

President Obama is scheduled to step off his plane in Minneapolis Monday to continue a Democratic-backed push for stronger gun control. But as he enters the City of Lakes to meet with local law enforcement, he will be coming off less than 48 hours since the latest in a string of high-profile violent crimes that have plagued the last week.

Audiences knew decorated veteran Chris Kyle from the NBC reality show "Stars and Stripes," and his New York Times bestselling autobiography "American Sniper," but his service didn't stop with retirement: Kyle volunteered his time helping veterans cope with post traumatic stress disorder, reintroducing them to firearms.

Now he may have been killed by one of those troubled vets he was trying to help. Authorities have arrested 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, a former Marine who police say may have been suffering from "some type of mental illness" when he allegedly killed Kyle and the SEAL's neighbor at gun range in Texas. The motive today was still unclear.

The incident speaks to a larger issue of mental health in America as the national gun debate continues. As President Obama and gun-control advocates continue to spar with opponents who say any further restrictions on the weapons would be an infringement of their Second Amendment rights, strengthening mental health care seems to be one aspect of the debate that both sides agree on.

For veterans coming back from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, care can be a slow process. The Department of Veterans Affairs has increased its staff to attempt to stay ahead of the influx, but according to an inspector general report released last year, roughly half of new mental health patients had to wait for about 50 days before their first evaluation. A separate VA study released Friday found an average 22 former service members commit suicide each day.

And the number of veterans receiving mental health treatment from the VA is steadily rising. The last year saw more than 1.3 million soldiers enter the system, up from 927,000 in 2006.

Mental health screens in gun sales have also been driven into the debate. While lawmakers bring forward national proposals to make more robust data systems for law enforcement to use in background checks, individual states including Maryland and New York have introduced legislation - expected to pass - that would do the same at the local level. The bills in the two states, both of which are led by Democratic governors, may offer a window into proposals to come at the federal level.

New York's proposed legislation, spearheaded by White House ally Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would empower judges to require that people who are determined to be a threat to others must get outpatient care. The plan also requires that when a mental health professional determines a gun owner is likely to hurt himself or others, the risk must be reported and the gun removed by law enforcement.

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22 killed in clash of Filipino extremists, rebels

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Muslim rebel group said Monday it attacked Abu Sayyaf gunmen after the al-Qaida-linked militantsrefused to free hostages, sparking fierce jungle clashes that left up to 22 combatants dead in the southern Philippines.

There was no word on whether the hostages were hurt in the fighting, but they remained in the grip of the Abu Sayyaf militants, police said.

Rebel commander Khabir Malik of the Moro National Liberation Front, which has an autonomy deal with the government, said his group decided to attack the Abu Sayyaf in the rugged mountains ofPatikul town in southern Sulu province after negotiations collapsed on the release of several of its foreign hostages, including a Jordanian TV journalist and two European men who have been held since last year.

Abu Sayyaf militants did release two Filipino hostages over the weekend after an unspecified ransom was paid, security officials said, adding the captives were let loose on their own and not turned over to the Moro rebels.

"We had no choice," Malik told The Associated Press by telephone from Patikul. "They told us they won't hand over their hostages to us even if they die."

The Moro rebels battled the Abu Sayyaf with guns and knives at close range Sunday, Malik said, adding his group lost eight men, including one who was beheaded and a few others who were hacked to death.

Military and police officials in Sulu said up to 14 Abu Sayyaf men were killed, citing intelligence.

The fighting subsided Monday after Abu Sayyaf gunmen split into smaller groups, with a large group seen fleeing from Patikul to an adjacent town. But the clashes could erupt again, Sulu provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Antonio Freyra said.

It was the first major bloody confrontation between the two insurgent groups, which have coexisted for years and at times were suspected of collaborating on kidnappings and backing each other in clashes against government troops in predominantly Muslim Sulu.

Malik said his group had taken the initiative to seek the freedom of the hostages to help the government clean up the image of Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has carried out deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, primarily in the early 2000s.

The two Filipinos freed by the Abu Sayyaf, cameraman Ramel Vela and audio technician Roland Letriro, worked for veteran Jordanian journalist Baker Abdulla Atyani. The rebels were also holding two European bird watchers, a Japanese treasure hunter, a Malaysian man and at least one Filipino resident of Sulu, police said.

Vela said he and Letriro last saw Atyani five days after they were taken into Abu Sayyaf custody in June last year, when the militants separated him from them. Atyani wanted to interview the militants in Sulu but he and his Filipino crewmen were taken hostage, Vela said.

Vela recounted his ordeal in a news conference in Manila, saying he saw about 400 Abu Sayyaf fighters in different Sulu jungle encampments, where they were held. He added that they were treated well.

"We were not harmed, not a pinch," he said from a wheelchair, where he sat with a swollen leg from constant jungle treks.

Atyani has gained prominence for having interviewed Osama bin Laden and his aides in Afghanistan about three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Abu Sayyaf is an extremist offshoot of a Muslim rebellion that has been raging in the predominantly Catholic nation's south for decades. U.S.-backed military offensives have crippled it in recent years, but it remains a national security threat. Washington has listed the group, which has about 380 armed fighters, as a terrorist organization.

Moro National Liberation Front rebels signed a peace deal with the government in 1996 that did not require them to disarm. They have settled back to their Sulu communities but have clashed with government troops periodically while negotiating for more concessions.

Alabama Hostage Standoff Over: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead, Child Safe

A week-long Alabama standoff in which a retired trucker held a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker has ended with the kidnapper dead and the child safe, according to law enforcement.

"FBI Agents safely recovered the child who's been held hostage for nearly a week," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson said at a news conference.

The agent said negotiations with the suspect Richard Lee Dykes "deteriorated" in the past 24 hours.

"Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun. At this point the FBI agents fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child," Richardson said.

The boy identified only as Ethan "appears physically unharmed" and is being treated at a hospital, authorities said.

Dykes, 65, is dead, but officials have not yet provided details on how he died.

PHOTOS: Worst Hostage Situations

Dykes allegedly shot and killed a school bus driver last week and threatened to kill all the children on the bus before taking the boy, one of the students on the bus said.

"He said he was going to kill us, going to kill us all," Tarrica Singletary, 14, told ABC News.

Dykes had been holed up in his underground bunker near Midland City, Ala., with the abducted boy for a week as police tried to negotiate with him through a PVC pipe. Police had used the talks to send the child comfort items, including a red Hot Wheels car, coloring books, cheese crackers, potato chips and medicine.

Dykes was a decorated Vietnam vet who grew up in the area. He lived in Florida until two years ago, the AP reported, and has an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago, neighbor Michael Creel said. When he returned to Alabama, neighbors say he once beat a dog with a lead pipe and had threatened to shoot children who set foot on his property.

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Authorities storm Alabama bunker, rescue boy

Federal and local law enforcement officers gather at their trucks after the hostage crisis ended in Midland City, Ala., on Monday afternoon, Feb. 4, 2013. Officials say they stormed a bunker in Alabama to rescue a 5-year-old child being held hostage there after his abductor was seen with a gun. (AP Photo/The Dothan Eagle, Jay Hare)

A sign posted on a tree in front of the Midland City Town Hall on Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 asks for prayers and a safe rescue for a boy named Ethan who was taken hostage last week. Authorities stormed an underground bunker Monday in Alabama, freeing the 5-year-old boy who had been held hostage in the tiny underground shelter and leaving the boy's abductor dead. (AP Photo/The Dothan Eagle, Jay Hare)

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — Law enforcement officers stormed an underground bunker Monday in southeastern Alabama, freeing a 5-year-old boy and shooting his captor to death after they became convinced the child was in imminent danger, officials said.

Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, of Midland City had taken the child off a school bus after fatally shooting the driver on Jan 29. He had remained holed up in the bunker with the child ever since, communicating with authorities through a ventilation pipe into the shelter.

Dykes had been seen with a gun, and officers concluded the boy was in imminent danger after nearly a week of negotiations, said Steve Richardson of the FBI's office in Mobile.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said late Monday that Dykes was armed when officers entered the bunker to rescue the child. He said the boy was threatened but declined to elaborate.

"That's why we went inside — to save the child," he said.

Olson and others declined to say how Dykes died. But an official in Midland City, citing information from law enforcement, said police had shot Dykes.

The official requested anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

Dykes was known by neighbors for his anti-government rants and for patrolling his property with a gun, ready to shoot trespassers. He had stayed for several days in the tiny bunker on his property before.

"He always said he'd never be taken alive. I knew he'd never come out of there," said an acquaintance,Roger Arnold.

Monday evening, officers were sweeping the property to make sure Dykes had not set up any bombs that could detonate. Full details of the bunker raid had not yet emerged. However, neighbors described hearing what sounded like gunshots around the time officials said they entered the shelter.

At a late Monday news conference, authorities declined to comment on how they had observed Dykes or on how he died, citing the pending investigation.

Asked about the official's statement that Dykes had been killed by law enforcement officers, FBI spokesman Jason Pack said in an email early Tuesday: "The facts surrounding the incident will be established by a shooting review team from Washington, DC in the coming days."

The boy has been reunited with his mother and appears to be OK, authorities said.

Richardson said he had been to the hospital to see the boy and he was laughing, joking, eating and "doing the things you'd expect a normal 5- or 6-year-old to do."

Michael Senn, pastor of a church near where reporters had been camped out since the standoff began, said he was relieved the child had been taken to safety. However, he also recalled the bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., who has been hailed as a hero for protecting nearly two dozen other children on the bus before being shot by Dykes.

"As we rejoice tonight for (the boy) and his family, we still have a great emptiness in our community because a great man was lost in this whole ordeal," Senn said.

The rescue capped a long drama that drew national attention to this town of 2,400 people nestled amid peanut farms and cotton fields that has long relied on a strong Christian faith, a policy of "love thy neighbor" and the power of group prayer. The child's plight prompted nightly candlelight vigils. Midland City is located about 100 miles southeast of the state capital, Montgomery.

Throughout the ordeal, authorities had been speaking with Dykes though a plastic pipe that went into the shelter. They also sent food, medicine and other items into the bunker, which apparently had running water, heat and cable television but no toilet. It was about 4 feet underground, with about 50 square feet of floor space.

It was not immediately clear how authorities determined the man had a gun.

At the request of law enforcement authorities, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had approved the provision of certain forms of equipment that could be employed to assist in the hostage situation, according to a U.S. official who requested anonymity in order to discuss a pending law enforcement matter. It is not clear whether the equipment was actually used.

Authorities said the kindergartner appeared unharmed. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Dothan. Officials have said he has Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Melissa Knighton, city clerk in Midland City, said a woman had been praying in the town center Monday afternoon. Not long after, the mayor called with news that Dykes was dead and that the boy was safe.

"She must have had a direct line to God because shortly after she left, they heard the news," Knighton said.

Neighbors described Dykes as a menacing, unpredictable man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe. Government records indicate he served in the Navy from 1964 to 1969, earning several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

He had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors.

Arnold recalled that, for a time, Dykes lived in his pickup truck in the parking lot of the apartment complex where Dykes' sister lived. He would stay warm by building a fire in a can on the floorboard and kept boxes of letters he wrote to the president and the unspecified head of the Mafia, Arnold said.

Dykes believed the government had control of many things, including a dog track he frequented in the Florida Panhandle. Arnold said that Dykes believed if a dog was getting too far ahead and wasn't supposed to win, the government would shock it.

Ronda Wilbur, a neighbor of Dykes who said the man beat her dog to death last year with a pipe, said she was relieved to be done with the stress of knowing Dykes was patrolling his yard and willing to shoot at anyone or anything that trespassed.

"The nightmare is over," she said. "It's been a long couple of years of having constant stress."

____

Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Midland City and Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

Ex-U.S. Navy SEAL's killing puts focus on war's psychological toll

Eddie Ray Routh is pictured in this booking photo provided by the Erath County Sheriff’s Office. Routh is a suspect in the shooting and killing of former Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle. REUTERS/Erath County Sheriff’s Office/Handout

(Reuters) - The slayings of former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and another man trying to help a troubled U.S. military veteran, now charged with killing them at a Texas gun range, has renewed focus on the psychological wounds of war.