Courtney Taylor
A woman who hid a man being sought by lawmen for running a car off the road and shooting at the occupants appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Forty-four-year-old Courtney Denise Taylor entered a guilty plea to charges of hindering apprehension.
She was put on probation for five years.
During the early morning hours of October 30, 2019, then 28-year-old Alton Bruce Cooke is alleged to have run a vehicle off the road in the Midway area twice and fired shots at the occupants, hitting both.
The victims were treated and released at Baxter Regional Medical Center.
According to investigators, the female driver had a past dating relationship with Cooke that apparently sparked the attack.
Following the shooting, Cooke was the subject of a two-day manhunt involving a number of law enforcement agencies.
The search for Cooke ended at a home along Kirkland Street in Gassville after he barricaded himself in a room and shot himself rather than surrender to lawmen that had surrounded the residence.
Officers had spent a number of hours attempting to establish contact with Cooke in an attempt to end the standoff peacefully.
After having no luck contacting Cooke, tear gas was introduced into the house. The Mountain Home Police Department’s Special Response Team made entry into the residence and found Cooke’s body.
Taylor lived in the residence and she was arrested shortly after Cooke’s death and charged with hiding him.
At the time, Taylor’s then 16-year-old son lived with his mother. She is alleged not to have told him that she was harboring a dangerous fugitive.
She is reported to have taken her son to school and brought him home that evening, knowing Cooke was armed and hiding in the house.
U.S. Marshals escorted the 16-year-old away from the house.
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