Alabama AD Greg Byrne Addresses New York Times Story On Alabama Basketball Walk-On

TUSCALOOSA, AL — University of Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne on Thursday issued a statement in response to a story published by the New York Times alleging that a fourth Alabama basketball player was at the scene of a January shooting in Tuscaloosa that left a 23-year-old mother dead.

As Patch previously reported, the story published Wednesday night cited anonymous sources in a report claiming that freshman guard Kai Spears — the son of Marshall University Athletic Director Christian Spears — was in the car with star forward Brandon Miller in the early morning hours of Jan. 15 when the shooting on Grace Street began.

The brief gun battle resulted in the death of Birmingham native Jamea Harris, along with Maryland native Michael Davis and former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles being charged with capital murder.

Byrne's statement Thursday, which was released during the No. 1 seed Alabama basketball team's first-round NCAA Tournament matchup with Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, came amid accusations that the university has not been transparent during the course of the investigation.

Despite the university and the Spears family publicly denying the details of the story, Patch previously reported that the lead Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit investigator on the case mentioned during the preliminary hearing that one other person was in the vehicle with Miller when his car was struck twice by gunfire during the shooting.

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"First and foremost, we never lose sight of the victim in this situation. It is a heartbreaking situation, and we continue to extend our deepest sympathies," Byrne said. "From day one, we have been firm in our commitment to fully support and cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate this tragedy. We cannot interfere with law enforcement's investigation. We also cannot disclose law enforcement's information."

With specifically naming the New York Times, Byrne then went on to mention "an inaccurate report" published about Spears.

"This is untrue," he said. "As law enforcement previously shared, Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley were present. Both are fully cooperating witnesses. Neither have been charged with any offense nor did they violate University policy."

He then said the inaccurate narratives that have been reported about the involvement of Alabama student-athletes display an "unfortunate disregard of the facts," before going on to ask for careful due diligence from the media before reporting on this sensitive situation.

"As previously mentioned, it is not our role to share details about a pending legal matter," he said. "We will rely on law enforcement to disclose information if and when they deem it appropriate as we continue to fully support their investigation. Questions about the incident should be directed to them. Nevertheless, we felt like we had to address the inaccurate report from last evening."

Ryan Phillips is an award-winning journalist, editor and opinion columnist. He is also the founder and field editor of Tuscaloosa Patch. The views expressed in this column are his own and in no way reflective of any views held by our parent company or sponsors.