via AP
MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — As a police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker entered its fifth day, authorities were saying little except that their talks with the 65-year-old loner were continuing through a ventilation pipe. [...]
Neighbor Michael Creel said Dykes put the plastic pipe underground from the bunker to the end of his driveway so he could hear if anyone drove up to his gate. When Dykes finished the shelter a year or so ago, he invited Creel to see it — and he did.
NBC has more details on Dykes which includes every warning sign you could possibly think of that the man had no business owning a gun.
Published reports have quoted neighbors as saying Dykes has spent as long as eight days at a time in the bunker. [...]
Neighbors have described him as a paranoid menace who killed at least one neighborhood pet and threatened children on his property. On the day of the school bus siege, he was due in court over allegedly shooting at a neighbor’s truck.
It's easier for this man to purchase guns than it is for women in Alabama to obtain reproductive healthcare.