Police say Alabama star Brandon Miller delivered gun to former teammate Darius Miles before shooting
Alabama coach Nate Oats: Miller in 'wrong spot at the wrong time'
Tuscaloosa police testified Tuesday that star Alabama freshman Brandon Miller delivered the gun used in a shooting that killed Jamea Harris on Jan. 15.
Former Alabama player Darius Miles and another man, Michael Davis, are facing capital murder charges for the shooting. Miles was removed from the team after he was arrested. Davis is accused of shooting Harris while Miles has admitted in court records to giving Davis the gun for the shooting.
Miller has not been charged with a crime for allegedly bringing Miles the gun. Miller has played in all 27 games for No. 2 Alabama and is the team’s leading scorer with nearly 19 points per game. He’s projected to be a likely lottery pick in the 2023 NBA draft.
Per Al.com, police said in a preliminary hearing that Miles sent Miller a text message to bring Miles' gun to where the shooting took place. Miller’s car was hit twice by gunfire during the shooting.
Miles texted Miller to bring his gun to where they were, according to police.
When Miller got to the scene, Miles told Davis, “The heat is in the hat.” Det. Brandon Culpepper said that meant a gun was present.
Miles added, “There’s one in the head.” That, Culpepper said, meant a round was in the chamber.
Miles moved his girlfriend back to get her out of line of fire, Culpepper added.
A deputy district attorney told Al.com that Miller isn’t facing charges because “there’s nothing we could charge him with according to the law.” Alabama's Jaden Bradley was also allegedly at the scene of the shooting when it happened and Miller's car is also to be said to be one of two that were blocking the road the car that contained Harris was on. Police said that dash cam from Miller's car also captured part of the incident.
Alabama coach Nate Oats was asked about the police testimony Tuesday and said that Alabama's basketball program had known about Miller's alleged presence since the shooting happened and had cooperated with police. It's not clear if Oats knew Miller was the one who brought the gun, as police allege.
“It’s sad. We knew about that — can’t control everything anybody does outside of practice," Oats said. "Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out, Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble or is in any type of trouble in this case. Wrong spot at the wrong time.”
Here’s Alabama coach Nate Oats’ complete answer when asked about Brandon Miller being at the scene of the fatal shooting on the Strip in January that resulted in the arrest of Darius Miles and Michael Davis pic.twitter.com/jF3QEPFrBZ
— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) February 21, 2023
Tuesday evening, Oats released a statement saying that his news conference remarks "came across poorly" and that he did not "intend to downplay the seriousness of this situation or the tragedy of that night."
“I thought it was important for me to clarify the unfortunate remarks I made earlier," Oats said. "This entire time I’ve tried to be thoughtful in my words relative to this tragic incident and my statements came across poorly.
"We were informed by law enforcement of other student-athletes being in the vicinity and law enforcement has repeatedly told us that no other student-athletes were suspects — they were witnesses only. Our understanding is that they have all been fully truthful and cooperative.
In no way did I intend to downplay the seriousness of this situation or the tragedy of that night. My prayers continue to go out to Jamea Harris’ family.”
The shooting happened near the Alabama campus and school police discovered Harris dead inside a vehicle near the Walk of Champions by Bryant-Denny Stadium. She had allegedly been driven there by her boyfriend after the shooting. Harris’ mother has previously told Al.com the shooting happened after she told Miles and Davis she had a boyfriend and was not interested.
Miles’ attorneys have said their client is innocent and “looks forward to his day in court.” The junior had appeared in six games and averaged 1.5 points per game. He was ruled out for the season with an ankle injury before the shooting.
