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Circuit Judge Charles A. “Lex” Short sentenced an Enterprise man to 30 years imprisonment this week for shooting his former girlfriend in 2017.

Alex Algeron Daniels, 43, was convicted of first degree domestic violence by a Covington County jury.

Daniels was represented by Enterprise attorney Joe Sawyer and the State was represented by Chief Assistant District Attorney Grace Jeter.

During the trial, evidence showed that Daniels and the victim were no longer in a romantic relationship when he traveled to her Florala home in August 2017. Once there, Daniels refused to leave and began arguing with the victim about her dog. After cursing at her for some time, Daniels retrieved a pump shotgun and then shot the victim in the hip. The victim testified that she recalled Daniels telling her to “shut up” and then aiming the gun and firing. After shooting the victim, Daniels fled in the victim’s car, taking the gun with him, while she called 911. She then crawled to her front porch to await the arrival of paramedics and law enforcement officers. Daniels was located three weeks later, hiding in an air duct in a trailer in Coffee County. He was on parole for armed robbery at the time of the shooting.

At trial, Daniels claimed the shooting was accidental.

“Domestic violence is a crime that can, and does, happen everywhere,” said District Attorney Walt Merrell following the sentencing hearing. “What begins as a verbal argument all too often ends in violence, and Alex Daniels’s former girlfriend could have easily died from her injuries. Grace has a way of highlighting the courage of domestic violence victims and she did a great job prosecuting this case. I am thankful for the victim’s strength and courage, for the diligence and swift action of the paramedics and police officers and for the message the jury and Judge Short sent that we will not tolerate or accept domestic violence in Covington County.”