Ada Doss, a 27-year-old White female nurse, was shot and killed on the evening of May 12, 2026, as she left her shift at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A wife and mother to two young daughters, ages seven months and two-and-a-half years old, she was a beloved member of the DCH family.
That evening, Doss was walking to her vehicle in the hospital's south parking lot when a man approached her.
The man, who was brandishing a handgun, tried to take her purse and demanded her car keys. During the encounter, he shot Doss once, causing her death at the scene. Investigators later described the killing as a random act of violence. After the shooting, the man went through the mortally wounded woman’s belongings and got into her vehicle.
Responding Tuscaloosa Police officers found the suspect, identified as 41-year-old Matthew James Taylor, still armed and only feet away from the scene. He was taken into custody. The investigation revealed that Taylor had been dropped off at the hospital hours earlier by a friend, reportedly to seek help for a mental health crisis. However, he never entered the medical center. Instead, he loitered on the campus, at one point attempting to rob another woman in her car before she was able to drive away. Authorities found no connection between Taylor and Doss.
Taylor was initially charged with capital murder, as the crime occurred during a robbery. In June 2026, a Tuscaloosa County grand jury formally indicted him on charges of murder and being a person forbidden to possess a firearm. His attorneys, who plan to seek a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease, revealed Taylor has a long history of severe mental illness, including a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. After exhibiting bizarre behavior in custody, a judge ordered Taylor transferred from the county jail to a secure medical facility to undergo competency evaluations.
In mid-June 2026, Ada’s husband, Andrew Doss, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Matthew Taylor, DCH Health Care Authority, and the hospital's security contractor, Allied Universal Security Services. A judge ruled that the civil case could proceed, a decision that was upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court in September 2026 after an appeal by DCH. As of September 2026, the civil litigation was moving forward while Taylor continued to undergo evaluations to determine if he was competent to stand trial in the criminal case.
