A woman died Friday afternoon after she opened fire on Mobile County sheriff’s deputies who had come to a Coden property to investigate a disturbance call, and a deputy returned fire, striking her, according to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.
The shooting happened at a residence on Bellingrath Road near Highway 188, in a part of southwestern Mobile County dotted with family compounds and shared homesteads. Capt. Paul Burch said the property is occupied by several members of the same extended family, and it was one of those relatives who first called for help.
Deputies responding to the call were told by the person who reported the disturbance that the woman described as acting erratically had retreated into a camper trailer parked at the back of the property, Burch said. When deputies walked toward the trailer to try to make contact with her, she began shooting at them through a window without warning.
“As deputies approached and attempted to establish contact, she began firing at them from a window,” Burch said. “One deputy returned fire and she was struck.”
The woman fired multiple rounds at the deputies during the brief exchange, but no officers or other people on the property were hit, Burch said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The Sheriff’s Office has not released the names of the deputy involved or the woman who was killed, and it remains unclear what led to the initial disturbance call or how long the confrontation lasted before shots were fired.
Officer-involved shootings in Alabama are typically reviewed by an outside agency, and it is standard practice for deputies involved in a shooting to be placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office has not said whether that step has been taken in this case or which agency, if any, is leading the review.
Coden is an unincorporated community in southwestern Mobile County near the Mississippi Sound, known for its fishing heritage and close-knit, multigenerational family properties similar to the one where Friday’s shooting occurred. Incidents of gunfire involving law enforcement remain rare in the small community, and neighbors along Bellingrath Road were left shaken by the violence on an otherwise quiet afternoon.
This is a developing story, and this article will be updated as the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office releases additional details, including the identities of those involved and the findings of any forthcoming investigation.