Man Accused of Shooting Scottsboro Officer Caught After Drone Search

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The manhunt for the suspect who allegedly shot a Scottsboro Police Department officer came to a close late Saturday night when law enforcement officers located and apprehended 29-year-old Daniel Victor McCarn. Authorities confirmed his capture just after 10:00 p.m., bringing an intense search to a safe and strategic conclusion.

Police said McCarn was found in a wooded area along Old Larkinsville Road, roughly five miles from where the incident began early Saturday morning. His arrest followed a crucial tip from a local business that led officers to check surveillance footage and deploy advanced drone technology to locate the suspect.

At a press conference at 10:30 p.m., Lieutenant Coty Durham explained the chain of events that led to the capture. “A business on Old Larkinsville Road called in a tip that they believed McCarn was nearby,” Durham said. “After checking surveillance video, police confirmed that McCarn was indeed the person spotted.” Officers launched a drone equipped with heat-detection capabilities, which tracked him to a wooded stretch near a set of railroad tracks. He was taken into custody without incident.

The incident began just before 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, when Scottsboro Police officers responded to a domestic disturbance on Ruth Street. Upon arrival, McCarn allegedly fled, initiating a pursuit that ended when his vehicle crashed near the intersection of U.S. Highway 72 and County Park Road. Following the crash, authorities say McCarn opened fire, striking one of the officers involved. He then fled the scene on foot, prompting a wide-scale manhunt that lasted nearly 22 hours.

Despite the length of the search, authorities said they never believed McCarn had moved far from the crash site. “Within a very minimal timeframe, we rendered aid and set up a perimeter to try to contain the suspect,” Durham stated. “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 officer who was shot was transported to Huntsville Hospital. Durham said the officer had undergone a medical procedure but is expected to recover fully. “He is doing okay,” Durham added. “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.”

McCarn, a Huntsville resident, has no prior interactions with the Scottsboro Police Department. Public records show only two previous traffic violations in Jackson County, one from 2017 and another in 2022.

Throughout the day, the search focused on a set perimeter that included landmarks like the Scottsboro High School football stadium, Piggly Wiggly, Foodland, and County Park Taco Bell. “The football stadium, Piggly Wiggly, Foodland, County Park, Taco Bell area, the wooded area, that’s where we’ve got our original perimeter,” Durham noted, speaking less than an hour before McCarn’s capture.

Local authorities credit teamwork, public cooperation, and technological resources with helping resolve what could have become a more dangerous standoff. The case remains under investigation.