UA Basketball Player, Maryland Man Charged With Capital Murder In Strip Shooting

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit says two people, including a University of Alabama basketball player, have been charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a 23-year-old woman Sunday morning near The Strip.

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Captain Jack Kennedy, commander of the multiagency unit, told local media during a press conference that the suspects are Michael Lynn Davis, 20, from Charles County, Maryland and Darius Hairston Miles, 21, from the Washington, D.C. area.

Miles was a member of the University of Alabama basketball team until being removed following his arrest, while Davis was not affiliated with the University of Alabama. Prior to the shooting, it was announced on Saturday that Miles — a junior forward — would miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury suffered during the preseason.

Crimson Tide basketball player Darius Miles one of two men charged with capital murder in fatal shooting on The Strip early Sunday morning pic.twitter.com/wBWybat3Ni
— Ryan Phillips (@JournoRyan) January" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/JournoRyan... 15, 2023

When Miles was escorted from the Violent Crimes Unit office in downtown Tuscaloosa, he was sobbing and could be heard telling a group of people in the parking lot "I love you ... I love you more than you imagine, I swear. I love you more than you imagine."

The victim was identified as Birmingham native Jamea Jonae Harris, 23. She was not affiliated with the University of Alabama. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kennedy did not specify who is believed to have fired the fatal shot.

Kennedy said Tuscaloosa Police and University of Alabama Police were initially dispatched to the Walk of Champions at Bryant-Denny Stadium on a shooting around 1:45 a.m. Sunday after a vehicle had stopped there upon sighting a University of Alabama Police vehicle.

"The vehicle, in addition to the driver, contained a deceased female that had been shot," Kennedy said. "The driver reported that their vehicle had been shot into, and that he had also returned fire in self-defense, and may have struck a suspect."

Kennedy went on to say that the vehicle only stopped at the Walk of Champions for help, and it was determined that the shooting had occurred in the 400 block of Grace Street off of University Boulevard.

"After processing the scenes, speaking with multiple witnesses, and viewing video surveillance, two suspects were developed," he said. "They were located and interviewed. One suspect was found to have indeed been struck by gunfire and had a non-life-threatening wound. At this time, both suspects have been charged with Capital Murder, and committed to jail, with no bond. It appears at this time that the shooting was the result of a minor argument that occurred between the victims and suspects after they encountered each other along The Strip."

Kennedy declined to identify which of the two suspects was shot during the incident. He also explained that the capital charge, which requires an underlying felony or statutory violation, was the result of the two men being suspected of firing into an occupied vehicle.

Both Miles and Davis were transported to the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Sunday and are being held without bond.

This is a developing story. Tuscaloosa Patch will have more information as it comes in.