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Suspect in custody after 4 fatally shot at 2 homes in Alabama

By Will McDuffie and Meredith Deliso, ABC News Mar 14, 2023 | 7:45 PM
St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — Four people are dead after a gunman opened fire at two homes in Alabama, authorities said.

A 28-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting two people in a Birmingham home before killing two more in a nearby suburb, according to police.

Around midnight, St. Clair County deputies responded to a home in Ragland, a Birmingham suburb, where they found a woman dead in the driveway and a man suffering from a gunshot wound inside, according to a sheriff’s office statement. The man was airlifted to a hospital, where he died.

The victims were identified by the sheriff’s office as Amber Manning, 37, and Timothy Davidson, 62.

Hours later, around 6 a.m., police in St. Clair County arrested Daniel Watson, of Pell City, who allegedly admitted to the arresting officer that he had also shot two people in Birmingham.

Police officers responded to a Birmingham house reportedly described by Watson around 8 a.m. local time Tuesday and found a man and woman dead from apparent gunshot wounds inside, police said.

“We believe the suspect shot two victims in Birmingham, before traveling into St. Clair County and shooting two additional victims in their jurisdiction,” Truman Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Birmingham Police Department, said in a video statement.

Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the killings, according to Fitzgerald.

“We do believe the suspect knows at least some of the victims,” said Fitzgerald, who did not identify the Birmingham shooting victims.

Watson is being held without bond by the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office on charges of capital murder and murder with a gun. He is also being detained for the Birmingham homicides, the sheriff’s office said.

Watson is expected to face capital murder charges in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, as well, according to Fitzgerald. It is unclear if the suspect has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

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