Philstavious Dowdell, a final year student of Dadeville High School who is about to graduate next month was shot dead at a Sweet 16 Birthday held on Saturday night at Dadeville, Alabama.
CONVERSEER gathered that Dowdell, a talented football player was the brother of the birthday girl.
According to Ben Hayes, chaplain of Dadeville High School’s football team, and Keenan Cooper, who was DJing at the party when the gunfire broke out, Dowdell was a beloved student-athlete who had incredible potential.
“It’s a very close, tight-knit community. Everybody knows everybody. That’s why this is so difficult.” I knew these kids personally, most people did”, Hayes, who is also a church pastor said.
Cooper said, “Dowdell was just weeks from graduating and had received a scholarship to play football at Alabama’s Jacksonville State University”.
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Dadeville High School’s football team assistant coach, Michael Taylor said Dowdell told him, “If anything ever happened to me, even when I go to college, take care of my two sisters.”
Taylor, who said he had been coaching Dowdell since he was 9 years old, described him as an exceptional athlete, saying, “Anything put in his hand, God blessed him to be able to do it.”
According to CNN, Jacksonville State Head Coach Rich Rodriguez on Sunday released a statement describing Dowdell as “a great young man with a bright future.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Philstavious Dowdell and the other victims of the senseless tragedy last night”, Rodriguez said.
Jax State Football is heartbroken to have lost an upcoming member of our program.
Statement from Head Football Coach @RealCoachRod pic.twitter.com/3ta5nposOP
— Jax State Football (@JaxStateFB) April 16, 2023
Another identified person killed was high school senior, Keke Smith.
The carnage has attracted lots of mourners across the United States, including President Joe Biden, who said he is praying for the victims’ families and reiterating his call for Congress to reach an agreement of gun control legislation.
“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theatre, or to the park?” Biden said while commenting on both Dadeville and Louisville shootings.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Jeremy J. Burkett with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the shooting left dozens of partygoers with “a wide variety of injuries” and some were still in critical condition.
He said “In the meantime, investigators continue to gather information about the shooting.
“We have been getting continuous updates throughout the day and we are absolutely trying to confirm and understand everyone that was in the venue there”.
CONVERSEER further learned that four persons including Dowdell were killed while over 28 were injured in the Alabama shooting.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, this weekend’s violence, there have been more than 160 mass shootings so far in 2023, marking more mass shootings than there have been days in the year.
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