Wichita man killed outside bar was All-American defensive back who loved to dance
Zachary Tre’veon Miller loved all things football.
Miller was born and raised in South Carolina, but his love for the sport eventually brought him to Kansas, where he was an All-American defensive back at Butler Community College. He left the state to continue playing college football but returned to Wichita to play arena football.
Family, a friend, girlfriend and former coach remembered him as someone who loves to dance, someone with unfailing optimism and a loving father to his children who are both still toddlers.
The 34-year-old Wichita man was fatally shot on Nov. 10 outside of a north Wichita bar.
No charges will be filed against the shooter because of ”insufficient evidence … to overcome the self-defense claim,” Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said.
Miller’s girlfriend, Haleola McDowell, who was there when the shooting happened, said he protected her to his last breath — yelling to her to get to the car before the shots were fired.
“He was a real down to earth person, loyal, caring,” she said. “He was always worried about everyone else but himself.”
Jeremy Rowell, a former defensive coordinator at Troy University in Alabama who recruited Miller to play for him, said Miller was someone that he and teammates liked to be around.
“Smile on his face all the time … Was outgoing and got along with everybody. Everybody enjoyed him. He was a really good teammate. He really was,” said Jeremy Rowell, a former defensive coordinator at Troy University in Alabama who recruited Miller to play for him. “He was a very talented kid … had a good nose for the ball, could make plays on the ball.”
Miller, who was nicknamed Pookie by his mother, was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
He is survived by parents, two brothers and two sisters and a “host of nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends,” according to his obituary.
Randall Fernanders said he and Miller, who taught him how to ride a bicycle, were closest in age among the cousins. Fernanders, who is six months older than Miller, remembers his cousin always running around and playing football.
Miller was “one of the most cool and laid back guys you would ever meet,” Fernanders said in a message. “Loved to crack jokes and laugh.”
Fernanders said his cousin was fearless, especially on the football field.
Standout football player
Miller excelled at sports at a young age.
In 2007 and 2008, he helped lead James F. Byrnes High School to win the South Carolina AAAA Division I State Championships as a sophomore and junior, according to his bio at Troy University.
He graduated high school in 2009.
He played a couple seasons at Butler before graduating in 2012. While at Butler, he “intercepted a team-high eight passes,” according to his Troy University bio.
After Butler, he went to Troy for a year. Even after college, football kept calling to him.
He moved back to Kansas to play arena football with the Wichita Force for a few years starting around the late 2010s.
Evan Ray, a fellow defensive back who became best friends with Miller, said Miller had incredible speed and jumping ability.
“There were plays I saw him make some time. Freakish,” he said.
Miller could also keep it light-hearted.
Ray said he remembers being cursed at by a coach while they were losing and looking over at Miller, only to start chuckling as Miller tried to hold a laugh in.
Miller also helped Ray out of a depressive slump after he tore his Achilles. Ray was down on himself, but Miller wouldn’t allow it. He kept encouraging him, telling him about how good everything was despite the minor setback.
“It lit a flame in me for life,” Ray said. “It was like a negative burden was lifted off of me.”
Living life
Miller worked for Office Installation Company, but football remained a part of his passion. He came to love watching Kansas football teams and would binge college football on Saturdays.
McDowell got Ray and Miller tickets to see their first NFL game. On Sept. 3, 2023, they went to see the Kansas City Chiefs at home against the Detroit Lions, which is Ray’s favorite team.
Miller and McDowell often cooked together while they danced around the kitchen listening to Morgan Wallen. They talked about opening up a food truck and one day moving to Katy, Texas, a town with a population under 30,000 that a cousin once mentioned to him.
He wanted to live in a small town, she said, believing it would be more simple and quiet. They would talk about those future plans as they watched the stars out at El Dorado State Park, a drive they made several times.
She said he was motivated to make his family proud.
“That was something he was always so worried about, was making his family proud,” she said.
Plans to go to a drive-in theater
McDowell didn’t get off until late on Nov. 9.
She and Miller had planned to go to a drive-in movie, which was one of their favorite things to do together.
But, after grabbing dinner and then meeting up with a friend for a drink, it was too late for that. They planned to stop at a bar on the way home, to get a drink, just the two of them, before cuddling and watching a movie.
They went to Tropics Lounge, 2705 North Broadway. They had been there once before. It was close to Miller’s home. It was also almost closing time.
As Miller went to open the door for them, a patron pushed them back and said the bar was closed and wasn’t serving drinks anymore, McDowell said, adding that people were still inside and they saw the bartender serve a drink.
Miller got upset that the man pushed her, she said. He said they needed to use the bathroom but the man told them the bartender already cleaned the restrooms.
Some people got between Miller and the man, she said, adding the man then said a racial slur.
The man left and then came back. Miller took off his jean jacket when the man came back, she said.
“I just remember bending down to pick up his jean jacket for him and then he yells at me, ‘Haleola, get your ass to the car now,”’ she said. “He goes around the guy that had been separating him and then goes after him and by that time my back is turned because he told me to go to the car.”
She thinks he told her to run because he saw the gun. He went toward the gun to keep her from being shot by accident if he ran with her, she said.
“As soon as I heard the boom, boom, boom, turned around because I knew, I knew that Zach didn’t have a gun on him.”
Miller was on top of the man, she said, adding she tried to get him to come with her. She didn’t know he had been shot at that point, but soon saw the blood.
She told him she loved him.
“And he told me he loved me,” she said.
The shooting was reported at 1:59 a.m.
Miller died at the scene.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help with funeral-related costs. It can be found at shorturl.at/EXBmk.