Man Accused of Killing Nurse at ‘Gun-Free’ Hospital Was Prohibited From Possessing Firearms

A few weeks ago I covered the murder of Ada Doss, a 27-year-old nurse, wife, and mom who was shot and killed in the parking lot of Tuscaloosa Alabama’s DCH Regional Medical Center. The hospital, like many around the country, is a “gun-free” campus, but that didn’t prevent Doss’s killer from carrying a gun onto hospital grounds. 

As it turns out, the man arrested and charged with Doss’s murder wasn’t allowed to have a gun at all because of a previous adjudication of mental illness, which prohibited his possession of firearms and ammunition. 

A Tuscaloosa County grand jury on Wednesday indicted 41-year-old Matthew Taylor on capital murder during a robbery in the slaying of 27-year-old Ada Doss, first-degree robbery and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm.

The latter charge is because authorities said Taylor was prohibited from having a gun because of documented mental illness.

Taylor was dropped off at DCH Regional Medical Center several hours before Doss was murdered, supposedly because he wanted to seek help with his mental state. Instead of entering the hospital, Doss allegedly stayed in the parking lot for several hours. Another woman says Taylor tapped on the window of her car with a handgun and ordered her out of her vehicle, but she instead sped away. Just a few minutes later, Taylor is accused of approaching Doss as she was walking to her car after finishing her shift, pulling his gun and trying to take her purse. 

When Doss resisted, Taylor allegedly shot her. As she lay on the ground, Taylor allegedly rummaged through her purse for her car keys, but was still in the parking lot when police arrived and were able to take him into custody. 

As I wrote last month, I’m not blaming the hospital system for Doss’s death. I don’t know if she was a gun owner, or if she would have chosen to bring her gun with her to work if she had been. If she’d been forced to leave her handgun in her vehicle while she was on the clock, she wouldn’t have been able to access it when she was confronted by Doss. 

What I am saying, though, is that these “gun-free” policies don’t make anyone safer, despite the claims of anti-gun politicians like Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who just signed a bill that requires hospitals and facilities offering mental health treatment to prohibit lawful carry of firearms and knives with blades longer than 3.5 inches. 

I am proud to be the Governor who says “yes” to commonsense legislation that keeps Virginians safe.⁰ ⁰Today in Norfolk, I signed legislation to keep dangerous weapons out of our hospitals and medical facilities.⁰ ⁰Because whether you’re recovering from surgery, visiting a… pic.twitter.com/UlEpQR6xX9

— Governor Abigail Spanberger (@GovernorVA) June 4, 2026

I understand the impulse here. These facilities are helping individuals who are mentally unstable, and introducing firearms into the equation only makes things more dangerous, right? 

Well, no. Because as we saw in Alabama, a mentally disturbed individual with violent intentions isn’t going to concern themselves in the slightest about bringing a firearm into a “gun-free zone.” A policy that prohibits carrying firearms is far more likely to disarm doctors, nurses, hospital staffers, and visitors who might become the target of a violent individual, as Doss was in Tuscaloosa just a few weeks ago. 

Spanberger didn’t sig a bill that will keep guns out of hospitals and medical facilities. There will be no magnetometers at entrances, no extra security on hand to stop individuals from bringing guns or knives inside. She signed a bill that makes it illegal to bring a gun into a hospital, and anyone intent on committing murder, assault, or robbery is going to pay no mind to that prohibition. This bill won’t protect people. It will put them at risk of becoming the next Ada Doss.