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AP and Staff Reports
Fort Wayne police say a suspected bank robber had turned toward officers holding a replica handgun when he was fatally shot by a patrolman.
Police say 37-year-old Anthony W. Taylor of Bluffton robbed a bank Wednesday afternoon in Avilla, about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne.
Officers found Taylor inside a taxi at a gas station on Fort Wayne’s east side several hours later. Taylor ran from the taxi, ignoring orders to stop and drop his weapon.
Police Chief Rusty York said Thursday that Patrolman Peter Mooney shot him three times. Taylor died later at a hospital. York says the shooting was justified.
Taylor had spent time in prison for robbing the Huggy Bear Motel in nearby Warren back in 1996, during which he shot at the Markle town marshal. That incident also included a lengthy police chase through southern Wells County which ended in a wreck in Huntington County.
Taylor had unrelated pending charges here of neglect of a dependent, D felony, reckless driving and failure to stop after an accident, both B misdemeanors.
Bluffton Police Chief Tammy Schaffer said Taylor had a lengthy history with local law enforcement.
According to Schaffer, Taylor, in October of 2006, while still on probation for the Huggy Bear Motel robbery, told his probation officer he was going to “get a gun and shoot-up the fourth floor of the courthouse” and that it was going to be a “bloodbath.”
Bluffton police investigated Taylor because of those threats, trying to determine if he had available weapons. Nothing was found at that time, however.
“We knew he had shot at Markle police in the past so we considered him very dangerous,” Schaffer said.
In July of 2008 Bluffton police received a report that Taylor was driving recklessly through downtown with his 12-year-old son and a female passenger, Amy Evans. Evans contacted police when she was able to get herself and the boy free from the vehicle. When police caught up with Taylor he told them he had just “got mad.”
His pending charges here were a result of that incident.
On December 14, 2008, Taylor’s family reported him missing and Bluffton police began another investigation. Taylor’s family later contacted police and said he had been found at a truck stop near Marion and was taken to a nearby hospital.
When Taylor allegedly robbed the bank in Avilla Wednesday, police there located his vehicle and identification and warned Bluffton police to be aware he was again being sought by police.
Schaffer notified all officers at that time to be on the lookout for Taylor who might be armed and dangerous.
Schaffer said she believes the Fort Wayne police acted rightly in their handling of the situation with Taylor. She said she was not surprised by the eventual outcome.
“We always feared that our run-ins with Taylor would lead to a lethal confrontation,” she said.
“He was involved in a number of incidents, he was a well known name in the department,” former sheriff Barry Story said this morning.
He remembers that Taylor was involved in an incident in the courthouse during a hearing. “Threats were made, he made some trouble, but I don’t recall the details,” he said.
“But he tried to turn himself around, too,” Story continued. “I remember he brought both Tammy Schaffer and I a special Bible for law enforcement officers. We always thought he was kind of a walking time bomb, but I really hated to hear about what happened in Fort Wayne.”
Taylor was a former Liberty Center resident and a 1991 graduate of Southern Wells High School.
His obituary appears on page three of today’s News-Banner.
News-Banner report Jerry Battiste contributed to this story.
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