Man Charged with Murder of Birmingham Firefighter

Damien Laron McDaniel III, already charged with killing 11 people and wounding 29 others in just a span of several months in Birmingham, is now charged with three more murders.

Birmingham police on Tuesday announced the 22-year-old Fairfield man is now charged in the following homicides:

The 2023 shooting death of Firefighter Jordan Melton at Station 9
The Jan. 10, 2024 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Mia Nickson outside her family’s home in east Birmingham
The April 9 2024 ambush killing of 44-year-old Anthony Lamar Love Jr., a husband and father who had worked at UPS for around 20 years

“BPD will not let up. BPD is locked in,” Interim Police Chief Michael Pickett said.

“What’s happened over the past year and a half has been horrific with one person causing so much pain in our community and taking away loved ones,‘’ Mayor Randall Woodfin said.

In Love’s slaying, McDaniel and 41-year-old Charles Derius Nance, are charged with capital murder/murder for hire. Nance is a co-defendant of McDaniel in another Birmingham murder.

McDaniel is charged with intentional murder in Nickson’s killing, and with capital murder of a first responder in Melton’s death.

McDaniel is also charged with attempted murder BFRS Sgt. Jamal Jones, who was critically injured in the Station 9 shooting.

With the new charges, McDaniel now stands charged killing 14 people in 14 months, including two 2024 mass shootings – one at Hush Lounge on the city’s southside and the other at Trendsetters lounge in north Birmingham.

The shooting at Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service’s Station 9 happened on July 12, 2023.

Firefighters Melton and Jamal Jones, who has since been promoted to the rank of sergeant, were working their shift and performing routine maintenance in the station’s bay area when a gunman entered through the open bay door and opened fire in what police say was a targeted attack.

Police and firefighters were called to the station, at 1228 27th St. North, where the firefighters had reportedly been shot in the chest and legs.

At least one caller reported hearing shots and ran to take cover in the bathroom.

The shooter entered the fire station through the open bay door, which typically remains open to be accessible to residents who need their blood pressure checked or other help or information.

Melton died five days later. Jones was critically injured.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Chief Cory Moon attended the press conference alongside Pickett and Woodfin.

“It has been 19 months since the tragic incident occurred and we empathize with the families that have been affected,’’ Pickett said.

“This ripped through the fire and rescue service like no other thing has happened since my time as mayor,‘’ Woodfin said.

“It was important to bring justice, not just to this family,‘’ the mayor said, ”but to let our firefighters know we have their back and front and we were not going to rest until this person was held accountable and brought to justice."

Nickson, 21, was killed about 1:45 a.m. Jan. 10, 2024.

East Precinct officers were dispatched that Wednesday to a report of a person shot in the 800 block of Crest Green Turn.

They found Nickson unresponsive outside the family’s home. Firefighters pronounced her dead on the scene.

The shooter or shooters had already fled the scene.

There were other people inside the residence at the time, but they were uninjured.

Love was leaving work April 9, 2024, when at least a dozen shots rang out in the parking lot of the UPS Customer Care center and distribution warehouse on Inglenook Lane shortly after 6 p.m. that Tuesday.

Love was walking through the parking lot to his vehicle when the gunman confronted him and opened fire on him.

Love collapsed on the ground and was pronounced dead on the scene.

“Anthony love Jr. did not deserve to die at his place of work either and Mia Nickson didn’t deserve to die simply by being at home,‘’ Woodfin said.

McDaniel is in prison at Kilby Correctional Facility after his probation in an October 2019 case in which two people were shot at in Fairfield was revoked.

Here’s a look at McDaniel’s cases:

The July 13 mass shooting at the private club Trendsetters that killed Angela Weatherspoon, 56, of Center Point, Markeisha Gettings, 42, of Birmingham, Stevie McGhee, 39, of Birmingham, and Lerandus Anderson, 24, of Center Point and wounded 10 others during an adult birthday party. Hatarious Woods, 27, is also charged with capital murder and 10 counts of first-degree assault in that case.
Charlie Herbert Moore, 61, was shot to death Aug. 13 inside his Birmingham home. Police say the shooter or shooters were actually looking for someone else. Charles Derius Nance, 41, is also charged in Moore’s death. Authorities contend Nance provided the intended victim or victims’ names and address to McDaniel. Nance was also arraigned Wednesday, and is represented by attorney Emory Anthony.
The Sept. 19 killing of Diontrante Tinae Brown, a 35-year-old mother who police say was an innocent bystander shot to death inside 604 Bar and Lounge on Ninth Street North.
The Sept. 21 mass shooting outside Hush lounge that killed Carlos McCain, 27, Roderick Lynn Patterson Jr., 26, Anitra Holloman, 21, and Tahj Booker, 27. Those four were killed, and 17 others injured, in the Five Points South shooting. He is the only person so far charged in the Southside mass shooting. He is the only suspect charged so far in the Hush massacre.
The Sept. 22 robbery shooting death of 32-year-old Jamarcus McIntyre, who died in a hail of gunfire in the 700 block of 81st Place South less than 24 hours after the Five Points South shooting. Others charged in McIntyre’s murder are: Larry Rollins, 32; Ny’Quan Lollar, 22; Demarco Beck Jr., 29; and Zachary Holmes, 31. They were arraigned to on Jan. 7. McIntyre’s killing was caught on chilling home surveillance video and showed gunmen killing McIntyre and stealing his backpack. Text messages show McDaniel and two others allegedly waiting for the victim for him for nearly two hours before gunning him down.

Who is Damien McDaniel?

What little is publicly known about McDaniel’s past comes from court records, news reports and a short interview he gave in a YouTube documentary about Birmingham violence.

McDaniel had at least a half-dozen arrests as a juvenile which were either dismissed or ended with him being given probation. Those charges ranged from being a juvenile in possession of a gun to giving false information to police.

In 2021, he was arrested by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on an attempted murder charge, but he would later tell investigators the grand jury did not indict him.

He was also arrested by Vestavia Hills police on charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin and meth. The disposition of those charges was not available.

McDaniel is the father of two children who were last known to live in Georgia. He described his relationship with his children to investigators as “poor.”

McDaniel’s own father, Damien Laron McDaniel Jr., is in federal prison in Kentucky. He was sentenced to 26 years in 2013 for trafficking cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

His father’s arrest in that case came after a six-hour standoff with U.S. Marshals in Adamsville. The older McDaniel was described in news reports as a former leader of the Bloods gang in the Fairfield area.

When McDaniel III was 5-years-old, his father was charged with the fatal 2007 shooting death of 23-year-old Cedric Burch in Fairfield two months after McDaniel Jr. and others allegedly poured gasoline on Burch and set him on fire.

At the time of that homicide, McDaniel Jr. was out on bond for shooting Burch’s brother and had already served at least part of a 10 year sentence for possessing cocaine.

The case was nol prossed, and Damien McDaniel Jr. never went to trial for the slaying.

His son was a few months shy of his 12th birthday when McDaniel Jr. received the 26 year sentence. Damien McDaniel Jr. is scheduled to be released in 2037, according to the federal prison system.

The younger McDaniel previously worked at a Walmart, but that job ended with his 2019 cases.

He attended Fairfield High Preparatory School until his junior year, leaving in 2019 when he was arrested. During his time in high school, he had been suspended for fighting.

McDaniel told investigators in 2023 that he was prescribed psychotropic medications for various mental health issues, however he stopped taking them during his time in jail. He also reported having therapy a couple of times a week.

McDaniel, then 17, was arrested at Fairfield High School for an October 2019 case in which two people were shot at in Fairfield.

He pleaded guilty on April 26, 2023, to two counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with two years to serve followed by three years of probation.

The week before Birmingham police announced McDaniel’s arrest in the Hush massacre, Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Chief Assistant District Attorney Lane Tolbert filed a motion to revoke McDaniel’s probation in the 2019 attempted murder cases.

McDaniel, prosecutors contended, violated his probation terms by engaging in “injurious and vicious” habits. He was recorded on social media brandishing firearms at least nine times between April 1, 2024, through Oct. 1.

His probation was revoked on Dec. 12.

There has been criticism about the sentence and probation on the Fairfield cases – which put McDaniel back on the streets.

Tolbert said they were fortunate to obtain a conviction by way of McDaniel’s guilty plea — and the 15 year split sentence of time served awaiting trial and probation.

Prosecutors, he has said, had “no one” who was willing to come forward with information.

“When you have no witness cooperation, like in most of his cases, because of fear probably, we were lucky to get that,’’ Tolbert said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.