Bruce Everett Cox, a 54-year-old White man who court records identified as a Decatur resident, was fatally shot on October 16, 2020, at a residence on Sage Private Drive in the Hartselle area of Morgan County, Alabama. At about 5 p.m., Decatur police officers were dispatched to 93 Sage Private Drive after receiving a report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found Cox suffering from a gunshot wound.
Emergency personnel transported him to a local hospital, but his injuries proved fatal and he died following the shooting.
Investigators quickly focused on Mary Evelyn Hamm, who lived at the Sage Private Drive residence. Police said their investigation established probable cause to charge Hamm with murder in connection with Cox's death. She was arrested and taken to the Morgan County Jail. Authorities characterized the shooting as an isolated incident of a domestic nature, although the initial reports did not publicly explain the exact relationship between Cox and Hamm or describe the events that immediately preceded the gunfire. Hamm was initially reported as being held on a $100,000 bond.
More information emerged after the case progressed through the court system. Hamm was subsequently indicted on a murder charge for Cox's killing. According to an affidavit referenced in later court reporting, Hamm acknowledged shooting Cox and told investigators that she did so because she was tired of him attacking her. That statement represented Hamm's account to investigators and did not, by itself, establish in court that Cox had assaulted her or that the shooting was legally justified. By the time of the indictment, jail records listed Hamm's bond at $50,000, and an arraignment had been scheduled.
The case therefore moved beyond the initial arrest to a formal murder indictment, with Hamm identified as the accused shooter. Publicly accessible reporting located on the case documents her arrest, the murder charge, her statement concerning alleged attacks by Cox, and the subsequent indictment, but does not document a later trial verdict, guilty plea, acquittal, dismissal, or sentencing. As a result, the available online record does not establish a final criminal disposition in Hamm's case.
