Support and backlash are coming from University of Alabama students following a fatal shooting. Tuscaloosa police say men’s basketball star Brandon Miller played a role in the death of twenty-three-year-old Jamea Harris. The athlete’s defense attorney denies that.
Miller’s lawyer says his client brought the gun to his teammate but didn’t know the shooting was going to happen.
Nicholas Atkinson is a freshman at UA. He says there wouldn’t be so much attention on Miller if he wasn’t a high-profile player.
“I don’t think it’d be as mainstream. It’s on all the social media platforms. I just don’t think it’d be that. I think it’d be less known to the public eye,” Atkinson believes. “You know there’s been other players that have done even crazier things like cheat on their SATs and all kinds of other stuff. I don’t think Brandon Miller should get removed from the team. If he does, I’m sure he’ll just go to the G League.”
Coach Nate Oats said the team was going through a grieving process. He and the university said Miller is a cooperating witness and isn’t considered a suspect. The school said the decision to keep playing him is “based on all the facts that we have gathered.” Oats walked back a comment from Tuesday, when he said Miller was in “the wrong place at the wrong time,” and apologized again in Wednesday's postgame remarks for his choice of words. UA freshman Nicholas Atkinson says Miller bears no responsibility in the shooting.
“He didn’t even know what the gun was being used for,” he said. “So, no I don’t think he bears any responsibility. I think it’s kind of crazy how that just happened. For the team, it’s not too good losing players like that.”
