Photo: Tuscaloosa County Jail
Former Alabama men's basketball player Darius Miles is accused of providing the gun used during a fatal shooting of a 23-year-old woman over the weekend, according to court documents filed in Tuscaloosa and obtained by the Associated Press.
Investigators said Miles admitted to providing the handgun moments before it was fired by another man and resulted in the death of Jamea Harris, 23, of Birmingham, near the University of Alabama campus early Sunday (January 15) morning.
Miles, 21, of Washington, D.C., and Michael Lynn Davis, 20, of Charles County, Maryland, were both charged with capital murder in relation to the shooting incident.
"At this time, it appears that the only motive was a minor altercation that these individuals had with the victim as they were out on The Strip,'' said Tuscaloosa Police Captain Jack Kennedy during a news conference Sunday evening, adding that the two men didn't have a previous relationship with Harris.
The driver of another vehicle, in which Harris was a passenger, made contact with University of Alabama campus police at 1:45 a.m. and said someone had shot into the vehicle and he fired back. One of the two suspects were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a nearby hospital, according to Kennedy, who declined to identify who it was or which of the two men fired the gun.
Neither Harris nor the driver were believed to be affiliated with the University of Alabama, according to Kennedy. A video shared by AL.com shows Miles saying, "I swear...I love you more than you imagine," while being escorted into a police vehicle by officers.
A Tuscaloosa County Jail official told ESPN that Miles was booked into the facility at around 6:45 p.m on Sunday. The incident took place hours after No. 4 Alabama had announced that Miles was ruled out for the remainder of the 2022-23 season due to an ankle injury ahead of its 106-66 win against LSU.
The University of Alabama confirmed that the junior reserve forward was no longer part of the men's basketball team and had "been removed from campus" in a statement obtained by ESPN in response to Sunday's incident.
"The University of Alabama's utmost priority is the safety and well-being of the campus community,'' the statement read. "We are grieved by the incident that occurred near campus last night and extend our deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends.''
Miles played in six games for No. 4 Alabama during the 2022-23 season, which included scoring two points in his last appearance during the Crimson Tide's 84-64 win against Jackson State on December 20.