A 21-year-old man shot to death just months before the birth of his son was set up and killed during a robbery, a detective testified.

Tre’Von Nyheim Douglas was found dead Feb. 15 behind a vacant house in the 1400 block of 33rd Street.

Malik Quintawn Austin, 24, is charged with capital murder in Douglas’s slaying.

The fatal shooting happened just one day after Austin was released from the Jefferson County Jail after a judge had continued his probation on a previous robbery conviction.

In the moments before Douglas was killed, authorities said Wednesday, Austin sent someone else a text message that read, “When we roll up, I’ll run it right then. Don’t let him grab nothing. We’re going to leave him here.”

That text message was part of Birmingham homicide Det. Ethan Sentelle’s testimony Wednesday during Austin’s preliminary hearing before Jefferson County District Judge William Bell.

When the testimony ended, Bell ruled there was enough evidence against Austin to send the case to a grand jury for indictment consideration.

Deputy District Attorney Charissa Henrichs is prosecuting the case. Austin is represented by attorneys Rolando Ranking and William Eric Hamilton.

Douglas, who was expecting his first child, was killed just before 4:30 p.m. that Saturday.

Neighbors reported hearing a loud “bang” and found Douglas on the ground in the backyard of the house. They then called 911.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced Douglas dead on the scene at 4:46 p.m.

Douglas had left his apartment off U.S. 280 that day with Austin and another man. Douglas’s girlfriend told detectives he was going to buy a gun and had taken between $600 to $800 with him, Sentelle said.

Austin, she said, was arranging the gun sale.

The detective testified that the person who called 911 saw two men walk to the back of the 33rd Street, which was previously owned by Austin’s family and a house where Austin had lived.

The witness said he heard one gunshot and then saw one of the men return to a truck and leave. Police recovered one .45 caliber shell casing from the scene.

Douglas did not have any identification on him. Authorities were able to positively identify him after his girlfriend called the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.

His girlfriend had become concerned when she couldn’t reach Douglas and then she, Douglas’s mother and brother all began trying to reach him, to no avail.

Douglas’ girlfriend reached out to Austin, but he told her only that he had dropped him off somewhere and was going back to pick him up.

Sentelle said he obtained a search warrant for Austin’s Facebook and found messages between he and Douglas.

As part of his investigation, Sentelle said he found body camera footage from a previous traffic stop of Austin, and said the truck in that video matched the truck seen leaving the homicide that Saturday.

Additionally, he said, surveillance video from Dunkin Donuts on U.S. 280 showed the same truck leaving Douglas’ apartment complex that day.

Investigators learned the truck belonged to an acquaintance of Austin who had let him borrow the truck when he got out of the jail the previous day.

He did not return the truck as planned, Sentelle testified, and stopped communicating with her.

Sentelle said he then interviewed Austin who admitted to being there that day but denied killing Douglas.

Austin said a man he knew only as “D” was with them and was the one waving the gun. He also said he saw “D” taking Douglas’ belongings.

Sentelle said police have not yet identified “D.”

When Douglas was found, his phone was missing, and he had only about $340 on him.

The detective said he asked Austin if he had called 911, but Austin told him he had left a message for detectives at police headquarters.

The alleged murder weapon was recovered in March from another person who said he bought it from a man named Demarcus.

Henrich said the testimony against Austin warranted the case moving forward, citing evidence of the robbery and Austin’s text message just prior to the shooting.

Rankin, however, said the case is based on circumstantial evidence and hearsay.

“The state has not established that our client committed a robbery or a murder,” the defense attorney said. “My client admits to being there but said he is a witness, and another individual actually committed the crime.”

“We do have another individual that was there, another individual that took this gun while Malik was in custody, this gun was out on the street and it was sold,” Rankin said.

“So, we know that another individual was there…this other individual actually did it.”

Henrich disputed the defense attorney’s claims that the evidence is circumstantial.

“It’s not circumstantial when it’s the defendant’s own phone,” she said. “That statement by itself indicates what their intention was.”

Austin remains held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

Austin on Sept. 29, 2024, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery. He was sentenced to 20 years with three years to serve but was granted credit for 1,123 days served.

He was placed on supervised probation which Judge Stephen Wallace later amended to unsupervised probation.

On Nov. 4, 2024, Birmingham police arrested Austin for being a convicted felon in possession of two pistols.

Court records show Austin was arrested again on Jan. 29, 2025, for being in possession of a stolen pistol.

On Feb. 13, records show, the judge issued an order continuing Austin’s probation. A probation review was set for March 10 before Wallace.

Austin was released from jail, at 11:37 a.m. Feb. 14. Douglas was killed just over 24 hours later.

Wallace earlier this month revoked Austin’s probation and ordered him to serve the remainder of the original 20-year sentence.