TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Investigators said a University of Alabama basketball player charged with capital murder provided the gun used in the fatal shooting, but another man fired the gun.
Investigators wrote in a court document that Darius Miles admitted to providing the pistol immediately before the shooting. Another man is accused by police of firing the gun and killing a young woman near the university’s campus, according to court documents filed in Tuscaloosa.
Miles, 21, a Washington, DC junior reserve forward, and Michael Lynn Davis, 20, of Charles County, Maryland, are charged with murder in the shooting of Jamea Harris. She was 23 years old. The shooting happened early Sunday morning on the Strip, a student-centric business district with bars and restaurants near the Tuscaloosa campus, police said. Harris was in the passenger seat of a car when she was hit by a bullet, investigators write in the court filing.
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The University of Alabama said in a statement that Miles is no longer on the basketball team. Fourth-seeded Crimson Tide will take on Vanderbilt University Tuesday night in Nashville.
Miles’ defense attorneys released a statement Monday saying Miles has maintained his innocence and that he and his family are “heartbroken” at Harris’ death.
“Although Darius has been accused of involvement in this tragedy, he maintains his innocence and is looking forward to his day in court,” they said. “Our firm’s own investigation is ongoing and no further statement is being made at this time,” attorneys William White, Clayton Tartt and Suzanne Norman of Birmingham-based law firm Boles Holmes White wrote in the statement.
Basketball coach Nate Oats said Monday fourth-ranked Crimson Tide was going through “some kind of grieving process.”
“They didn’t have too many questions,” Oats said. “It’s really more of a grieving process. I mean, they understand the gravity of the situation with Jamea. You also understand the gravity of the situation with Darius. There’s both sides of dealing with it.”