A dispute over loud music in a Mobile apartment complex ended in a deadly shooting on the night of Monday, December 21, 2020. The victim, 39-year-old Larry Taylor, was found at Avalon Plaza Apartments on Michael Boulevard with multiple gunshot wounds. Neighbors said animosity over noise had simmered between Taylor and a neighbor for about three months before the shooting; one neighbor reported hearing a commotion and the sound of five or six gunshots.

Police arrested an off-duty Prichard police officer who lived in the same building, 35-year-old Johnathan Murphy, the following day and charged him with Taylor’s murder. The Prichard Police Department subsequently fired Murphy. Records show Murphy had previously fatally shot a motorist during a 2017 traffic stop while on duty; he was not charged in that earlier incident. Murphy was booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail and later released from jail.

If anyone witnessed the argument that night or has information about repeated disputes at Avalon Plaza Apartments, please share what was seen or heard.