The charges against a Hoover man in the shooting death of a Birmingham business owner will be forwarded to a grand jury for indictment consideration, but a Jefferson County judge said she is not yet sure what that charge will be.

Sebastian Deonta Ross, 23, is currently charged with capital murder in the slaying of 44-year-old Snir Lalum, a co-owner of Insta-Movers.

Charging documents against Ross say Lalum, an Israeli citizen affectionately known by his friends in the U.S. as Sonny, was killed while Ross and another suspect were stealing an undetermined amount of money.

The second suspect, and alleged triggerman, identified in documents and court as Jaquies Hoffman, remains on the run.

Lalum was the co-owner of Insta-Movers. The shooting happened at the company’s warehouse in the predawn hours of Aug. 24.

Ross appeared in court Tuesday before Jefferson County District Judge Katrina Ross (no relation).

Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Dain Stewart argued that Lalum was killed during a robbery, hence the capital murder charge.

Ross’s public defender, Sammie Shaw, contended his client was there seeking work, and there is no evidence a robbery was planned or took place.

“Simply because he was there when the business owner was killed does not make him guilty,’’ Shaw said.

Judge Ross said the case would be bound over to a grand jury, but she was considering whether suspect Ross should be charged with capital murder or murder.

Among new details unveiled in Tuesday’s preliminary hearing was that moments before and after Lalum’s slaying were caught on camera and that Hoffman was heard saying to suspect Ross, “I had to pop him.”

Birmingham homicide Det. James Glasgow was the only witness to testify in the hearing.

Testimony showed the ordeal began when a group of Lulum’s employees were at the nearby Circle K before going to the warehouse, which is on Walter Davis Drive in south Birmingham.

Ross approached one of the young Hispanic workers while they were in line to make a purchase.

Video from the store showed the worker taking Ross’s cell phone and entering his number into the phone because Ross was reportedly looking for work.

The worker told Ross he would have to talk to the boss – Lalum – about getting a job.

Glasgow testified that Ross and Hoffman then followed the Insta-Movers workers to the warehouse. Ross was seen on surveillance video first talking to the workers and then to Lalum when he arrived at work.

Glasgow said Ross could be heard saying something to Lalum in Spanish, but that the phrase he said made no sense. Lalum is Israeli, not Hispanic.

The detective then said the suspect, who is from Hoover, was speaking with a Spanish accent when he talked with Lalum at length, apparently describing construction work he could do at Lalum’s house.

Ross told Lalum he would work for cheap but wanted 50 percent up front. He then lowered that to 10 percent.

Glasgow acknowledged that Ross twice entered the warehouse, at least one of those times with Lalum’s permission, but was eventually told to leave, that “you’re not needed here.”

Ross got into a Nissan Frontier, which had been reported stolen from a Hoover apartment complex earlier in the night. The suspect left the parking lot but came back a short time later “at a high rate of speed.”

At that point, video showed, Hoffman got out of the SUV carrying a gun and went into the warehouse.

He reportedly told Ross he had to use the bathroom.

A gunshot was heard, and then Hoffman exited, yelling to Ross, “I had to pop him.”

The pair fled the scene.

Police found Lalum suffering from a gunshot wound inside a warehouse bay. They attempted life-saving measures until Birmingham firefighters arrived to take him to UAB Hospital.

Lalum was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:50 a.m.

Police quickly identified suspects in the case and took Ross into custody in just over 24 hours.

Glascow testified that initially Ross denied being at the Circle K or the Insta-Movers warehouse that day, saying he was with his girlfriend and at school.

The detective said Ross admitted to being there only after he was shown surveillance images of him at the warehouse and the store.

Glascow said Ross, when arrested, was in possession of a gun that looked similar to the gun Hoffman was carrying the day of the murder. He also told detectives he took the gun from the seat of the Nissan Frontier on the day of the homicide.

Ballistics tests have not yet been completed.

Shaw said in closing arguments that prosecutors had not met the burden of probably cause for Ross to be charged with capital murder.

“It’s clear from the testimony and from the video that Mr. Ross didn’t shoot anyone that day. If anyone was shot, Mr. Hoffman is the person who did it,’’ the public defender said. “The only evidence we have is that Sebastian Ross happened to be present when that occurred. That’s not enough.”

“You haven’t heard any evidence from anyone that there was any demand for any property taken, that this was planned, that they found anything that belonged to this business,’’ Shaw said. “There is no evidence of a robbery or a planned robbery at all.”

“You have to believe stuff that wasn’t presented,’’ Shaw said, “to believe this was a robbery.”

Stewart disagreed.

“We have this defendant on video who followed workers to this warehouse,’’ he said. “He comes up to (the victim) and starts spouting off, trying to get money up front with no proof that he could do the work.”

“When the victim refused, and said, ‘you’re not needed here’ and wouldn’t pay him up front for any of the work, when he’s turned away, he sends his buddy in with a gun who shoots the victim,’’ Stewart said.

“He’s trying to get money out of the victim,’’ he said.

The judge took the case under advisement. It wasn’t immediately clear when she would make her ruling regarding Ross’s charges.