Suspect accused of shooting Scottsboro police officer held on $10 million bond; officer identified

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (WAFF) - The search for the man accused of shooting a Scottsboro Police officer came to an abrupt end on Saturday night.

Just minutes after 10:00 p.m., WAFF 48 learned that Daniel McCarn was in custody. He has since been charged with attempted murder, jail records show.

Thermal drone footage of McCarn’s arrest was released by Scottsboro Police on Sunday:

At a press conference at 10:30 pm Saturday, Lt. Coty Durham said a business on Old Larkinsville Road called in a tip that they believed McCarn was nearby.

After checking surveillance video, police confirmed that McCarn was indeed the person spotted. Officers launched a drone with heat tracking technology and were able to track him to a wooded area near some railroad tracks.

McCarn was taken into custody without incident. The spot of his capture on old Larkinsville Road is about 5 miles from his last confirmed location early Saturday morning near Highway 72 and County Park Road.

Before police captured him, Durham told us that investigators had no reason to believe that McCarn had gotten very far from the scene.

“Within a very minimal timeframe, we rendered aid and set up a perimeter to try to contain the suspect,” Durham told reporters.

“We feel like he could potentially be there, so we don’t want to leave that area until we have some type of extra or outlying information that he could have potentially gotten out of that area.”

The ordeal all started just before 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, when officers responded to a domestic incident on Ruth Street.

Authorities said a suspect fled the scene, prompting a pursuit from officers.

According to Scottsboro Police, the suspect crashed his car at the intersection of U.S. Highway 72 and County Park Road.

Officers said the suspect began firing shots, which hit an officer involved in the pursuit. Then the suspect fled on foot.

The suspect was identified as 29-year-old Daniel Victor McCarn of Huntsville. Durham said the Scottsboro Police Department has no record of any previous interactions with him.

A search of Alabama court records showed only two minor traffic violations. Both were in Jackson County - one in 2017 and another in 2022.

According to Scottsboro Police, the officer, identified as Lieutenant Derek Porch, was shot and is being treated at Huntsville Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“He is doing okay,” Durham said Saturday night.

“He had to undergo a procedure earlier, but the injuries he sustained were not life-threatening, so he’s hopeful to make a recovery, and we hope to be seeing him real soon.”

Officials said Lt. Porch, who has been with the department for 29 years, was shot in his left hand.

Durham said the search grid did not change much during the manhunt.

“The football stadium, Piggly Wiggly, Foodland, County Park Taco Bell area, the wooded area, that’s where we’ve got our original perimeter,” Durham said Saturday night, less than an hour before the capture.

McCarn was booked into the Jackson County Jail, where he is being held on a $10 million bond.

Click Here to Subscribe on YouTube: Watch the latest WAFF 48 news, sports & weather videos on our YouTube channel!