Concord police investigate an early morning shooting in Eagle Square. Photo by Jay Heath.

Concord police investigate an early morning shooting in Eagle Square. Photo by Jay Heath.

James Daniels, a regular at Tandy’s Pub and Grille, circled the two men fighting in historic Eagle Square.

The 1 a.m. fistfight early Saturday morning was between a friend of Daniels and 21-year-old Harley Huddleston just as the bars were letting out for the night. Huddleston was knocked to the ground and began to get up when police say Daniels – with his arms pointed straight in front of him – fired multiple shots from his 9mm handgun, according to court documents detailing video evidence and interviews with witnesses.

Huddleston was shot five times in the chest, arm and back. Several bullets missed their mark and ricocheted off nearby buildings, police wrote, describing evidence at the scene.

Daniels, 34, of Manchester will be detained pending a trial following his arraignment Friday on multiple charges, including attempted murder and first-degree assault with a firearm in connection with the Eagle Square shooting.

Daniels appeared virtually at Merrimack Superior Court on Friday where the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Daniels is facing additional charges of reckless conduct and being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon.

Concord Police responded to Eagle Square in downtown Concord shortly after 1 a.m. on Aug. 27 after receiving reports of a disturbance and gunfire. When they arrived, the first officers on the scene administered first aid to Huddleston until paramedics arrived and transported him to Concord Hospital with serious injuries, police said.

Prosecutor Carley McWhirk argued that Daniels should not be released on bail, calling him a flight risk and a threat to the public. In her argument, McWhirk cited Daniels’s criminal record, which includes a conviction for attempted murder in 2007 in Massachusetts, for shooting a man with a firearm. He was sentenced to serve 10 to 12 years.

In that case, “The victim suffered a single shot to his abdomen, which is consistent with the alleged victim in this case,” McWhirk said.

In a police interview from his hospital bed, which was detailed in an affidavit prepared by Concord Police Detective Carleton Ryder, Huddleston said he never saw the man who shot him. He was outside Tandy’s by the historic clock tower along N. Main Street, and fighting with another man, after he said some people made a comment about one of his friends. Then he heard gunshots and fell down. He told police that the man who he was fighting was not the same man who shot him.

Most of the people involved had patronized Tandy’s earlier in the night. Police interviewed several witnesses, including Tandy’s employees and bystanders, who say they saw Daniels at the scene, identifying him as a “regular.”

Daniels usually carried a 9mm gun and was overheard earlier that night saying he was “strapped,” or carrying a firearm, according to witness accounts outlined in the police affidavit.

Witness accounts say Daniels and another man were spotted running toward the walkway connecting Eagle Square to N. Main Street, and that shortly afterward Daniels was seen shooting Huddleston, according to court documents.

Security camera footage from the night of the shooting shows Daniels’s shadow cast against the walkway with arms straight out in front of him, “pointing” while he shuffled sideways to stay “squared” with Huddleston, according to court documents.

Later that morning, Concord Police found 9mm shell casings and bullet fragments littering Eagle Square, and identified spots where bullets had struck the nearby wall of Zoe & Co. bra store.

At the hearing, Daniels’s defense attorney Amy Ashworth argued that the shadow seen on the security camera doesn’t indicate that a gun was fired. Ashworth said that Daniels, who has two young children and is employed as a lawn technician for a landscaping company, isn’t a flight risk and argued that he should be given $10,000 bail.

Judge Brian Tucker decided to detain Daniels, saying his release would be a “danger to the safety of the public,” citing his past conviction of attempted murder.

“This is obviously a crime of violence,” Tucker said. “I find that the fact that he was in possession of a firearm despite being prohibited to be possessing one, suggests he is not likely to abide by conditions of release.”

Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Concord Police at (603) 225-8600.

Eileen O'Grady is a Report for America corps member covering education for the Concord Monitor since spring 2020. O’Grady is the former managing editor of Scope magazine at Northeastern University in Boston, where she reported on social justice issues, community activism, local politics and the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a native Vermonter and worked as a reporter covering local politics for the Shelburne News and the Citizen. Her work has also appeared in The Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, The Bay State Banner, and VTDigger. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in politics and French from Mount Holyoke College, where she served as news editor for the Mount Holyoke News from 2017-2018.

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