A Fort Hood soldier escaped a cop car and stole an ambulance in apparent rampage

A Fort Hood soldier identified as Taylor Patterson is in custody today after escaping a cop car, firing a police shotgun through the roof of a cruiser, and leading police on a car chase in a stolen ambulance, KWTX Texas reports.

The odyssey began at 4 a.m. on Tuesday when police responded to a call stating that there was an unresponsive man in a vehicle behind a business in Harker Heights, Texas.

Officers called paramedics to the scene "due to the apparent intoxication of the individual," a police statement read.

Police then cuffed Patterson's arms behind his back and placed him in the back of a cruiser before buckling his seat belt and locking him in. However this failed to contain Patterson, of the 615th Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division

"He then defeated the locked prisoner screen and unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the vehicle shotgun from its locked rack, but managed to discharge the shotgun in the patrol car," authorities told KWTX.

Patterson then escaped the car and stole a Harker Heights Fire Department ambulance with which he led police on a chase down Highway 190.

At that point Patterson used the ambulance's radio to tell the authorities that he had been trained by the Army as a Special Forces soldier, and that he was heavily armed, according to the police.

Shortly thereafter, Patterson lost control of the vehicle, wrapping it around a light pole.

"He then crashed the ambulance on US 190 without involving any other vehicles or individuals. The subject was uninjured and taken into custody, transported to the Bell County Adult Detention Center with several charges pending. There has been no bond set at this time," according to the police release.

Patterson, 23, had previously served in South Korea and earned an Army Good Conduct Medal.