Within less than twenty-four hours, the Associated Press changed its mind three times about what kind of weapon Jimmy Lee Dykes, the Alabama man thought to be holding a five-year-old boy hostage in his homemade, underground bunker, used to terrorize his neighbors.

Yesterday, blogger Bob Owens grabbed a screen cap of the story:

Yes, the Associated Press has been caught red-handed changing “shotgun” to “assault rifle” in their reporting.

Since the beginning of the standoff (example) it has been reported only that Dykes has been armed with a shotgun when patrolling his property. The morphing of the shotgun into an assault rifle seems to have happened within the past four hours.

Owens updated his blog later when AP changed the story (without explanation) with the word “firearm”.

As one of his reader commented, a third change happened after the blog had been published. The last paragraph of the story now reads:

Parrish often saw him digging in his yard, as if he were preparing to lay down a driveway or building foundation. He lived in a small camping trailer and patrolled his lawn at night, walking from corner to corner with a flashlight and a long gun. Authorities have not disclosed what firearms Dykes might have in his possession.

H/T Memeorandum

Note: The AP story was changed three times, not four.