Police: An Alabama escapee armed with bomb threatens to use device against girlfriend or police

Bowling Green police arrested an Alabama man Thursday night after his girlfriend said he stole her car, had a bomb inside of the vehicle and threatened to kill her with the device.

At 5:06 p.m. police responded to 1201 Morgantown Road where they were met by Morgan Odom, who told them that her boyfriend William Anthony Taylor, 24, stole her car, had a bomb inside the car and threatened to kill her with it. She also said Taylor told her if the police tried to stop him, he would run at police with the bomb to force them to shoot him, according to his arrest citation.

Odom told police she knew Taylor had a bomb on the floor of the vehicle because he had the device in Alabama after he escaped from a jail there.

Odom also said Taylor had had a large amount of gunpowder with another substance wrapped in plastic wrap on the floorboard of the car for about a month, according to his arrest citation.

Police used technology to ping Taylor’s cell phone location and found him at the Speedway on Broadway where he was taken into custody.

Taylor told police the bomb belonged to a friend, according to the citation.

An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was called to the scene and located a "substance” that indicated the presence of a bomb inside the car, records show.

An ATF agent told police the substance would be sent for testing, records show.

If after testing the device and forensic scientists determine that it would work as intended, Taylor could face federal charges.

Taylor was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment, possessing or distributing explosives without a permit, third-degree terroristic threatening and theft by unlawful taking of an automobile.

He is lodged in the Warren County Regional Jail where he is also being held on a fugitive warrant related to his Alabama jail escape.