Alabama football star headed to college on scholarship ID’d as among 4 dead in shooting at sister’s ‘Sweet 16’ party

A high-school football star and honor student set to graduate and play in college was among four people killed at a “Sweet 16” party for his little sister in Alabama on Saturday night.

Phil Dowdell, who recently committed to playing wide receiver at Jacksonville State University, was one of the best players in the state, a coach told AL.com on Sunday.

“He was the No. 1 athlete in the school,’’ said Michael Taylor, an assistant football, basketball and track coach at Dadeville High.

“The first thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to pray our way out of this,” Taylor said. “There ain’t no other way. And then I can tell you, they’re all real close like family at the high school.”

The tragic high-school senior was slain at the celebration for his sibling Alexis, his stricken grandmother, Annette Allen, said to the Montgomery Adviser.

“He was a very, very humble child. Never messed with anybody. Always had a smile on his face,” Allen said.

A week ago, Dowdell posted on Facebook, “everyday my life go up & up, it’s hard for me to get mad.”

The same day, he shared snaps of himself and his senior-prom date, both of whom wore sparkly yellow outfits, with him in shorts and a matching jacket.

His sister updated her Facebook profile picture Sunday morning to a photo of her kissing her brother’s cheek.

Another murdered victim was identified as fellow Dadeville High School senior and former athlete KeKe Nicole Smith, who was described as “so full of love.” 

Nearly 30 people were injured in the melee, including Dowdell’s mother, who sustained two gunshot wounds, Allen said.

Dowdell, who had a “million-dollar smile,” was getting ready to graduate before heading off to Jacksonville State on a football scholarship, his grandma said.

In a statement on Sunday, the university’s head football coach mourned the tragedy that took so many lives, including Dowdell’s.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Philstavious Dowdel and the other victims of the senseless tragedy last night,” Jax Head Coach Rich Rodriguez said in a Twitter post. 

“He was a great young man with a bright future,” Rodriguez wrote. “My staff and I are heartbroken and hope that everyone will support his family through this difficult time.” 

Taylor told AL.com that the teen was a standout in track, too, and also played hoops while being an honor student.

”It’s a small town. We don’t have too many crimes like this at all. So it’s shocking, very shocking,” Taylor said.

The other identified slain victim, Smith, was the manager of the school’s basketball and track and field teams and played on the school’s volleyball and softball teams until her junior year, when she suffered an ACL tear.

Taylor said he had just seen Smith Friday, when she tagged along with him to help at an event in Troy. 

“She was full of love,” Taylor told the Alex City Outlook. “Just like Phil, she was very very humble, and she had this huge smile like Phil had. She would joke around all the time, and she got onto all of us — even me. She was just full of life.”  

As with Dowdell, Smith’s Facebook page was also filled with photos of herself and her senior-prom date as they posed together outside the high school.    

At least 17 teens were among those shot when the gunfire broke out at about 10:30 p.m. at the Mohagany Masterpiece dance studio in the tiny town Dadeville about 60 miles east of the state capital of Montgomery.

Allen said that after the shooting, a lot of parents did not know where their children were and had to go from hospital to hospital to try and find them.

As many as 250 people were gathered outside an east Alabama hospital early Sunday.

“It was a very sad, sad scene, a very rough night,” pastor Ben Hayes, who serves as the chaplain for the Dadeville Police Department and for the local high school football team, told AL.com.

Dadeville Mayor Frank Goodman said a council member called him about a half-hour after the shooting to tell him what happened. The mayor said he went to the local hospital.

.“It was chaotic,” Goodman said. “There were people running around. They were crying and screaming. There were police cars everywhere, there were ambulances everywhere. People were trying to find out about their loved ones.

“That was a scene where we never had anything like this happen in our city before.”

Hayes, referring to Dowdell, said, “One of the young men that was killed was one of our star athletes and just a great guy.

“Dadeville is a small town, and this is going to affect everybody in this area.”

He added to AL.com, “This is a good family in our community, good kids, some of the best people heading this party.”

According to Hayes, the shooting occurred during some kind of argument. Police have not revealed any information regarding a suspect or shared what they believe led to the violence except to say the shooter is no longer a threat to the community, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

Multiple law enforcement agencies have been assisting the Dadeville Police Department, including the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s State Bureau of Investigation and the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office.

-Additional reporting by Ronny Reyes and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon