Police: Alabama Player Who Ferried Gun Won't Be Charged

At a preliminary hearing for the two men—one of them a former Crimson Tide basketball player—charged in the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old woman near the University of Alabama campus last month, police testified that another Alabama basketball player is linked to the murder, though not in a criminal fashion. Police testified that Darius Miles—the former player charged with providing a gun he owned to the second suspect, Michael Davis, who allegedly fired the fatal shot—asked his teammate, Brandon Miller, a freshman, to bring the gun to the scene, AL.com reports. The windshield of Miller's vehicle was struck twice during the ensuing shooting, police say.

A third Alabama basketball player, Jaden Bradley, was also present when the shooting took place, police testified. Neither Bradley nor Miller was charged with any crime; when asked why Miller was not, Tuscaloosa's chief deputy DA said that by law, "There’s nothing we could charge him with." In response to the police testimony, the university said Miller "is not considered a suspect in this case, only a cooperative witness," and that he is still an "active member" of the Crimson Tide, the AP reports. As Miller warmed up to play during Wednesday night's game in South Carolina, some in attendance yelled "lock him up" as he went through his pregame drills with no comment.

His lawyer says Miller never handled Miles' gun and was not involved in its exchange between Miles and Davis. Rather, he says in a statement, Miles asked Miller for a ride to a club; Miles left his gun in the backseat of Miller's car, but Miller didn't see it or touch it, and that after Miller left, Miles later texted asking him to bring the gun to him. Miller's lawyer says Miller wasn't involved in the exchange of the gun, wasn't part of the interaction with the victim Jamea Jonae Harris, didn't get out of his vehicle, and drove off as soon as he heard gunfire. The shooting allegedly took place after an interaction between Harris, her boyfriend, and the suspects during which Harris and her boyfriend told the suspects she was not interested in them and to move along. (More University of Alabama stories.)