Alabama man charged in September mass shooting faces more murder charges in July quadruple homicide

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By Safiyah Riddle

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man charged with killing four people in September has now been charged with capital murder in a separate quadruple homicide that took place in July, according to law enforcement officials.

Damien McDaniel, 22, has been arrested and charged with capital murder in connection with the July 13 mass shooting outside of a nightclub in Birmingham that left four people dead and 10 others wounded, Officer Truman Fitzgerald announced at a press conference Tuesday evening. McDaniel is also accused of three separate fatal shootings that took place on three separate days in August and September.

Another man, Hatarius Woods, 27, was also charged with capital murder in connection with the July mass shooting.

“These individuals started back in July, and they did not stop from September,” said Fitzgerald. “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.”

Woods and McDaniel are allegedly responsible for approximately 30% of all homicides that took place in the city between July and September, Fitzgerald said. Attorneys for Woods and McDaniel did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Including the charges announced Tuesday, McDaniel is accused of killing 11 people and wounding 29 others in five separate incidents over two months — one of those charges is in connection with the Sept. 21 mass shooting outside of a different nightclub, where four people were fatally shot and 17 others injured.

Fitzgerald said on Tuesday that there were “multiple shooters” in the September mass shooting, and the investigation is ongoing. The September shooting was Birmingham’s third mass shooting of the year.

Birmingham surpassed the decades-long homicide record set in 2022 after a fatal shooting Sunday marked the 145th homicide in 2024.

In a 30-minute long video released Tuesday night, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin sat in front of a table with 145 guns on it to represent the number of homicides in the city since the beginning of the year. He implored state legislators to help him address the rampant gun violence across the city.

“Even if I give you more officers on our streets, people are still legally allowed to drive around with these types of guns,” Woodfin said, gesturing to the guns in front of him. Woodfin said he supported the Second Amendment but also wanted to let voters across the city decide whether to place more restrictions on gun permitting.

“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,” Woodfin said.

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Safiyah Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.