Arrest Made In Galleria Shooting

HOOVER, AL — A man has been arrested and charged in the shooting death of an 8-year-old boy inside the Riverchase Galleria that occurred Friday. Montez Moses Miracle Coleman, 22, of Birmingham is charged with capital murder and assault, police said.

Four victims were shot in the incident, including 8-year-old Royta De’Marco Giles who died at Children's of Alabama hospital. The three other victims were hospitalized and released.

Lieutenant Keith Czeskleba of the Hoover Police Department said an investigation found that Coleman got into a verbal argument on the first level of the mall, near the food court.

During the argument, police said Coleman pulled out a 5.56 caliber pistol from a backpack and fired toward the other men involved in the altercation. Several of them were armed and fired back, according to police.

The fatal shooting is the third at the Galleria in less than two years. Emantic "EJ" Bradford was shot and killed by a Hoover police officer after an altercation Thanksgiving night in 2018 that involved two other victims shot during the incident. In June of last year, 20-year-old Zachariah Taylor Music was shot and killed at the mall.

Czeskleba said no one involved in the initial argument Friday was injured and all four of the victims in this case were innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.

Coleman was transferred from the Hoover City Jail to the Jefferson County Jail Sunday afternoon. Detectives are working to identify the other parties involved in this case and have developed some leads, Czeskleba said, but are asking for the public’s help.

Anyone who has any information about this case or recognizes anyone depicted in the images is asked to call Sergeant Matthew Savage at 205-739-6780.