Authorities arrest woman who fled as police fired shots

Jackson County, Alabama, authorities on Monday arrested a woman who was at large since she allegedly drove her car toward an officer last Wednesday as he fired shots at her.

Madonna Lynn Gant, 48, of Pisgah, Alabama, is charged with first-degree attempted assault and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to booking records at the Jackson County Jail in Scottsboro.

Gant had been at large since drug agents came upon her and two men at the end of County Road 673 in Stevenson, where agents with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office narcotics unit were investigating complaints of drug activity, officials said last week in a statement.

As officers approached two vehicles and an all-terrain vehicle stopped at a dead end, an unidentified man fled on the ATV and the officers made contact with the people in the two cars, a woman identified as Gant and a man identified as 47-year-old Michael Keith Garrard, both of whom, authorities said, were familiar to the agents.

Officers searched one of the vehicles and found a suspected methamphetamine pipe with residue on it, and as they placed Garrard under arrest and put him in handcuffs, Gant made her first attempt to get away.

Gant jumped into a blue 2011 Ford Mustang bearing a personalized Alabama plate reading “LYNGANT,” and attempted to flee but crashed into a wooded area, causing the vehicle to stall temporarily. As one of the officers approached the vehicle, “the vehicle backed out of the wooded area and drove aggressively toward the agent, at which time the agent fired several shots at the vehicle,” officials said. No one was injured.

Gant was taken into custody on County Road 126 in Pisgah at a relative’s home Monday morning, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen said Tuesday.

Harnen said Gant is being held on $5,300 bond and booking records showed no court date has been set.