The Alabama suspect accused of opening fire outside a Birmingham nightclub in September has now been charged with killing several other people in multiple shootings this year.
Damien McDaniel, who is currently in police custody, was charged with capital murder in connection with the July 13 mass shooting that killed four people and wounded 10 others. The 22-year-old’s charges were announced by the Birmingham Police Department during a press conference on Wednesday.
McDaniel was already connected to a Sept. 21 mass shooting in Birmingham, where four people were killed and at least 17 others were wounded. At the time of the shooting, Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said he believed the shooting was “a hit,” and that the suspects were paid to open fire.
Both of the shootings took place outside of nightclubs, with the Sept. 21 massacre taking place near the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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Damien McDaniel, 22, is connected to five recent shootings, police say. (Birmingham Police Department/WBRC)
On top of his connections to two mass shootings, police now also believe McDaniel was involved in three other shootings. The shootings, which were fatal, took place on three separate days in August and September.
In total, police believe that McDaniel killed 11 people and wounded 29 others in five different instances.
Suspect Hatarius Woods, 27, was also charged with capital murder in connection with the July mass shooting. Other shooters were involved in the Sept. 21 massacre, but the investigation of the shooting is still ongoing.
The Sept. shooting took place outside a nightclub in Birmingham, Alabama. (WBMA)
During a press conference on Wednesday, officer Truman Fitzgerald said that Woods and McDaniel were responsible for roughly 30% of homicides in Birmingham between July and September.
“These individuals started back in July, and they did not stop from September,” Officer Truman Fitzgerald said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We often say on these crime scenes that we have a few select criminals that add to this crime and give Birmingham a bad name.”
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin recently spoke out about the city’s violent crime crisis, asking state legislators to address the issue instead of simply adding more officers on the streets.
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Police cars on scene in Birmingham, Alabama, after the Sept. 21 shooting. (WBRC)
“Even if I give you more officers on our streets, people are still legally allowed to drive around with these types of guns,” the mayor said in a YouTube video on Tuesday. “If I was a betting man, I would believe the residents of Birmingham have had enough of this and want to see more gun safety laws in place that protect people in Birmingham, but that has to come from a level higher than me.”
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price, Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
