Autauga County man fires rifle at deputies, faces attempted murder charges

Taylor Cox fired at deputies on a County Road 165 porch just before midnight and now faces two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, Autauga County Sheriff Mark Harrell said. Cox was wanted on two counts of possession of child pornography out of Huntsville before the arrest, Harrell added, and court records show he is being held without bond.

Sheriff Harrell said deputies received a tip that Cox was at the County Road 165 residence and "Our two deputies did a drive by to check and see if he was there, and they spotted him on the porch." Harrell described Cox as "armed with a rifle standing on the porch. The deputies recognized him and pulled into the yard and he fired four or fire rounds at them from the rifle." Harrell said that "When the deputies got out to engage him, he gave up. No one was hit, and the vehicles weren't hit."

Harrell praised the responding officers, saying "Our deputies did an excellent job." In the same interview Harrell also said, "It could have been a very bad situation. No sheriff wants to get a call just after midnight that shots were fired at deputies. But they handled things well and I'm glad one was hurt." That latter line conflicts with his earlier statement that "No one was hit" and requires clarification from the sheriff's office.

Authorities said Cox surrendered when deputies exited their vehicle. Court records show Cox does not have an attorney listed and he could not be reached for comment. Harrell noted Cox has relatives in Autauga County. The Montgomery County booking records cited in the sheriff’s statement list Cox as held without bond; officials have not released additional evidence inventory on whether the rifle was recovered at the scene.

This arrest is distinct from a separate shooting earlier in the county that involved a medical helicopter. Court documents say 48-year-old Peter Ellison fired several shots at what he believed was a drone, but "In actuality, it was a medical helicopter." That incident occurred about 4:20 a.m. in a pasture just off County Road 51 while a Haynes Life Flight helicopter was landing for a medical call; "Gunfire hit the aircraft’s right-side window, and the sheriff said an onboard flight nurse was hit by the bullet’s ricochet." Deputies who were en route to help the helicopter land "immediately began gathering information on where the shots came from," and with help from the pilot and volunteer firefighters they located and arrested Ellison, recovered a gun and booked him into the Autauga County Metro Jail.

Ellison was charged locally with shooting into an occupied vehicle and held on a $30,000 cash-only bond, and federal authorities have taken the lead in that investigation; "The FBI and FAA have taken the lead in the investigation, and Ellison is also facing possible federal charges for the shooting," investigators said. The two incidents show separate locations and times in Autauga County — County Road 165 just before midnight for Cox, and County Road 51 about 4:20 a.m. for Ellison — but both ended with arrests and active criminal cases pending.