On December 27, 2023, at about 2:48 p.m. emergency dispatch received a report of a shooting near 5th Street and Avenue E in Brownwood, Texas. First responders found 32-year-old Taylor David Hart of Zephyr with a single gunshot wound; he was taken to Hendrick-Brownwood Medical Center and pronounced dead at 3:44 p.m.

Witnesses gave a description of a suspect and a pickup truck. About eight minutes after the initial call, an Early Police Department officer located a vehicle matching that description on U.S. Highway 183 and, after a brief pursuit, arrested 25-year-old Joseph Dean Williamson of Early. Williamson was charged with murder and evading arrest in a vehicle. The relationship between Hart and Williamson and the motive remain under investigation; authorities have not released further details about what led to the shooting.

Taylor Hart was born January 7, 1991, in Brownwood and grew up in Zephyr, graduating from Zephyr ISD in 2009. He is remembered by family as fun-spirited and kind, enjoyed working on vehicles and riding backroads, and is survived by his daughter Maevalynn Avila, his mother Christie Hart, siblings Brandy McClain and David Hart, and grandfather Billy Ray Burkett. If anyone has information about the shooting, contact the Brownwood Police Department.