Sullivan Co., Tenn. -- A marine and Vietnam veteran, Warren Aubrey Taylor pulled what seems to be the most uncharacteristic move anyone who knows him could imagine.
"I was shocked [when I heard]" says neighbor, Andrew West. "I never woulda thought of him doing something like that."
Described as friendly, and religious, a "big teddy bear kinda guy," Taylor's neighbors say he always waved when driving by, and they can't believe the trouble he's in.
11 Connects knocked on his door to see if anyone was home. At first, a woman who said she was his friend answered the door. She then refused to comment, but later, the woman, named Barbara, invited us in to chat, without cameras. Barbara said FBI agents stopped by early Thursday morning to search the trailer. It wasn't until 11 Connects told her what happened in Wytheville that she had any idea what went on. Her jaw dropped wide open. She was utterly shocked. With no indication that something was amiss, Barbara says Taylor left the house Wednesday morning, as he often does. He kissed her on her forehead and said, "I love you, appreciate you, and I'll see you later."
Barbara says Taylor usually spends his days hanging with friends. Neighbors agree that they often see his truck parked outside the gun shop on Highway 126, where a group of older men gather around a picnic table to chat. Barbara says he never shot guns for fun, and she never saw a gun in the house. Barbara says she stays with him to tend to his medical conditions. Years ago, Taylor lost his leg to diabetes complications. While he usually walks, he sometimes dons a wheelchair when the pain gets bad.
The request for a pizza during the hostage situation came as no surprise for a large man with diabetes. Barbara called him "protective," and she wasn't shocked to hear that he treated his hostages so kindly.
Taylor is listed on the state's sex offender registry, for "lewd and lascivious" acts back in 1991. His landlords say that they knew that he was on the sex offender registry, and there are kids and women that live in the complex. But in the seven or eight months that he's lived at the trailer park, there have been no complaints whatsoever. In fact, Taylor arrived with high recommendations. He pays the rent on time, and while living on a fixed disability income, his landlords and Barbara say he is not in any dire need for cash.
"It just shocks you to find out stuff's that close to your home, and you just never know," says neighbor Matthew Leek.
Click on the icon above for a video report.
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