Alabama's Darius Miles charged with capital murder after shooting

TUSCALOOSA,Ala. (AP) — Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and another manhave been charged with capital murder after a fatal shooting nearcampus.

TuscaloosaPolice Capt. Jack Kennedy said that the shooting occurred earlySunday morning in the Strip off University Blvd. near campus. Hesaid Jamea Harris, 23, of the Birmingham area was shot andkilled.

Miles, 21, ajunior reserve forward from Washington, D.C., and Michael LynnDavis, 20, of Charles County, Maryland, were both charged withcapital murder. The capital murder charge arose because the deathinvolved shots fired into a vehicle, Kennedy said.

“At thistime, it appears that the only motive was a minor altercation thatthese individuals had with the victim as they were out on TheStrip,” Kennedy said in a news conference Sunday evening. Theydidn’t have a previous relationship, he said.

He said thedriver of another vehicle, in which Harris was a passenger,approached campus police near Bryant-Denny Stadium at about 1:45a.m. saying that someone had shot into the vehicle, and he firedback. One of the suspects was treated for non-life-threateninginjuries at a local hospital, and Kennedy declined to disclose whofired the gun or who was hurt.

An emotionalMiles spoke to someone as he was being ushered into a lawenforcement vehicle: “I swear I love you more than you canimagine.”

Miles was areserve on the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide team. Alabama hadannounced before Saturday’s game against LSU that he was out forthe season with an ankle injury. His bio has been removed from theathletic department website and the university said that he “hasbeen removed from campus” and is no longer on the team.

“TheUniversity of Alabama’s utmost priority is the safety andwell-being of the campus community,” a university statement said.“We are grieved by the incident that occurred near campus lastnight and extend our deepest condolences to the victim’s family andfriends.”

Neither thedriver of the other vehicle nor Harris nor Davis appeared to beaffiliated with the university, Kennedy said.