Michael Dillion Daniels, 28, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and possession of a firearm by a felon in Alamance County Superior Court Thursday, Aug. 18. It was an Alford plea, meaning Daniels did not actually admit he committed the crime. He will serve 26 years, eight months to 33 years, and 10 months in prison, according to a release from the Alamance County District Attorney’s Office.
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Daniels apparently did not know the young man he shot at 4:17 p.m. Tuesday, June 7 at Huff’s Interstate Shell Station at 2562 Maple Ave., Burlington, according to the release.
Daniels was the passenger in a white Kia Optima stopped at the store. He got out of the car as the victim passed on the way to his own car, confronted him and fired two shots into his abdomen. He got back into the car, and was driven away from the scene.
A 27-year-old Advance woman was with Daniels that day. She was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder as an accessory after the fact, but the district attorney’s office dismissed that charge. She had no previous criminal record in North Carolina, according to court records.
Daniels, on the other hand, was on post-release supervision after being released from prison in March for a 2015 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon in Pender County.
District Attorney Sean Boone said the investigation was particularly difficult because there was no previous connection between Daniels and the victim and the crime scene was within easy reach of Interstate 40/85. Nevertheless, police had Daniels in custody a week after the shooting, which Boone called “extraordinary.”
Burlington Police found security video of the Kia and a man matching the suspect’s description at Sheetz on Main Street in Graham one exit east of Maple Avenue on the interstate, according to a search-warrant affidavit. Police stopped that Kia on June 13. The registered owner was driving it and she showed officers a rental agreement she had with Daniels allowing him to use the car from June 1 to 8. There were also documents with his address was in the car.
