By Drew Taylor and Maddie McQueen, CBS 42
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.–Birmingham Police announced the man arrested in connection to the September mass shooting outside Hush Lounge in Five Points South has now been charged in connection to a second mass shooting in the city that happened in July at Trendsetters Lounge.
“Our homicides that have been committed from July to September, about 30% of them involve one of these individuals’ names,” Birmingham Police Officer Truman Fitzgerald said.
According to Birmingham Police, Damien McDaniel, 22, is allegedly responsible for up to 11 of the city’s homicides since July. McDaniel is not the only man arrested in connection to that July mass shooting that claimed four lives and injured 10 others. Police say Hatarius Woods, 27, has also been arrested and charged in that case.
“We have a few select criminals that add to this crime and give Birmingham a bad name,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald says in the department, officers often say criminals like this don’t just stop at one murder and points to Tuesday’s arrests as the exemplification of that statement.
“Do you believe that these men could be connected to other unsolved homicides that have yet to be announced yet?” CBS 42 asked in Tuesday’s press conference.
“Certainly,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s why it’s important that our investigators don’t stop working because we made an arrest and we have seen great fruit because of that practice already being in place by our detectives.”
At this time, McDaniel is believed to be connected to five separate shootings across the city since July. Three were announced at a press conference in October where McDaniel was one of four men arrested in connection to the 604 Lounge shooting and the murder of Jamarcus McIntyre and the only one charged in connection to the Hush Lounge mass shooting.
“There are multiple shooters in that case, McDaniel is the only shooter that we have in custody,” Fitzgerald said. “Let us point out this, it very well may be that some of these individuals that we already have in custody may have been with McDaniel but that’s where those hours and hours and hours of investigative work comes to play.”
According to BPD, McDaniel and the three other suspects arrested in October as well as Woods have all been indicted and are all being held with no bond.
“Normally, an indictment in Alabama takes up to 18 months once law enforcement makes an arrest,” Fitzgerald said. “These individuals have already been indicted which means there’s only a few more steps before they are before a jury of their peers and tried in court.”
Birmingham Police say some of the homicides are being investigated as paid-for-hire murders but would not specify which ones.
Damien Laron McDaniel II was recently indicted on capital murder charges in the death of Charlie Herbert Moore. McDaniel, who has been charged with a shooting in Five Points South that left four dead and 17 others injured, is charged with allegedly entering Moore’s home on Aug. 13 and killing him.
McDaniel is also charged in other homicide cases, bringing the total number of cases against him to 11 deaths and 30 injured in the last year.
As of Tuesday, McDaniel is the only suspect that has been arrested in the Five Points case.
District 9 Councilor LaTonya Tate released the following statement Tuesday:
“Today, several families were able to find some semblance of closure thanks to the work of our law enforcement and legal community. A suspect, who is already in custody, has been indicted by a grand jury in the quadruple homicide that took place outside Trendsetters Lounge earlier this year.
This is the same individual accused of killing four people, and wounding 17 others outside a club in Five Points South.
Let this be a rude awakening for those who think that pulling a trigger will somehow solve a problem in their life. It’s beyond selfish. It’s sickening, especially when innocent people are killed as a result.
Obviously this will not heal the pain and grief for these families, but my hope is that we can continue to wrap our arms around them as a community and forge a better future for our children— one where violent actions have swift and serious consequences.
Thank you again to all those who have come forward, and for all the work being done by our law enforcement community.”
