US4 min(s) read
Published 15:56 22 Jun 2026 GMT
A nurse was brutally shot and killed while walking to her vehicle after a shift at DCH Regional Medical Center, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Ada Doss was on the phone with her husband, Andrew, speaking about their days at work and planning dinner for their children, six-month-old and two-year-old daughters.
The 27-year-old was then reportedly gunned down by suspect Matthew James Taylor, 41, on May 12.
Her husband could reportedly hear the mother of his children begging for her life before she was approached by the gunman.
He recalled hearing her voice, which was "filled with panic as Taylor approached her armed with a gun," as he detailed in a wrongful death suit.
Andrew filed the suit on Wednesday against both Taylor and DCH Regional Medical Center.
Andrew recalled his wife's gut-wrenching final words: "Please don't, I have babies," just seconds before she was shot and killed, according to the lawsuit.
Ada's widowed husband is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be awarded at a jury trial following her death.
He claimed that she was transported to the hospital that day by an individual warning of his "manic and erratic behavior," but security at the hospital "failed to assess the security threat and to locate Taylor."
It is also claimed that the suspect was able to allegedly leave the hospital's emergency room entrance and even "roam freely" while undetected for hours, despite being "shirtless, shoeless and armed."
According to authorities, Taylor was dropped off at the hospital earlier in the day, though he never entered the building, instead loitering the campus for a couple of hours.
They say that he tried to rob another woman in the afternoon by waving a handgun at her and telling her to get out of her car.
She managed to get away, but a shortly afterwards, police said Taylor approached Ada when she was walking to the car, pointing the fun at her and demanding her keys, report AL.com.
Ada continued to walk to her car, even as Taylor followed her with the gun, but once they reached the car, Taylor shot the nurse once.
She would die at the scene, while Taylor allegedly went through her belongings and went into her car, as police stated that the suspect was showing signs of mental illness.
Hours earlier, a woman had even told staff that there was a man outside who needed help, but when nurses went out, he was already walking away.
Security was told about the man, but they could not find him, and there was no evidence that he posed a threat.
Staff noted that Taylor didn't appear on DCH's security surveillance for the two-hour period it was claimed he was on hospital property.
They said: "He reappeared on our cameras near the outer edge of our property approximately 40 minutes before the crime, but his appearance was indistinguishable from that of any other visitor."
Minutes before Taylor fired at the nurse, the staff saw that he had taken his shirt off and that his behavior had changed, resulting in calls to security and law enforcement.
Now, the suspect is facing capital murder, first-degree robbery and illegal possession of a firearm charges, and is being forcibly medicated while behind bars, as per WTVM.
Hospital employees had long been calling for increased safety protocols in their parking lot, as a former employee claimed: "I feel as though they should put like a security booth out there."
The publication said that Tuscaloosa Police dealt with a separate robbery incident at the same hospital, a week before the nurse's death.
