Very little public information is available about Daneaco Reid’s early life. At the time of his conviction in 2021, he was 19 years old, suggesting he was born around 2001 or 2002. Reid was associated with the Moss Side gang known as AO, short for “Active Only.” This gang is a contemporary offshoot of Manchester’s historically violent groups, the Gooch and Doddington gangs, which were heavily active in the 1990s and 2000s.

On the evening of 26 July 2020, violence erupted on Henbury Street in Moss Side, Manchester. At approximately 7:30 p.m., police were called to reports of a disturbance. When they arrived, they discovered four young males had been stabbed. One of them, a17-year-old Mohamoud Mohamed, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other three victims survived their injuries.

The attack was soon linked to a simmering feud between two rival gangs in Manchester: Rusholme Crips and AO (Active Only). These groups were known to antagonize each other through music videos posted online, often with lyrics that named rivals or alluded to violent acts. In court, prosecutors played clips of AO members—including a track that chillingly declared: "I swear that's Mo let's kill him, kill him...", believed to reference the victim.

Reid, along with three others, Jamall Walters (18), Romeo Daley (18), and an unnamed 17-year-old, was arrested the day after the attack. All four were initially charged with murder. However, the legal proceedings eventually led to a manslaughter conviction on 12 February 2021. Following their convictions, all four young men, including Daneaco Reid, were sentenced to terms in custody, although the exact length of their sentences was not disclosed in most media reports.