According to his grandmother, Dowdell, who had a «million-dollar smile,» was preparing to graduate before enrolling at Jacksonville State on a football scholarship.
A high school football star and honor student who was set to graduate and play football was among the four killed in small-town Alabama in a mass shooting at a Sweet 16 party where 28 people were shot on Saturday night. Phil Dowdell, a senior set to graduate in weeks, was celebrating his sister Alexis’ birthday when he was killed in the mass shooting.
Dowdell was in a happy mood celebrating Alexis’ birthday at Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio in Dadeville when the first shots rang out following what police suspect was a fight. Dowdell’s brother Philstavious ‘Phil’ Dowdell, a high school senior like Smith, was also killed in the shooting.
Dowdell was one of the best players in the state, who recently committed to play wide receiver at Jacksonville State University, 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. … They’re all real close, like family, at the high school.»
The boy’s mother, who survived, and more than 28 other attendees are believed to have been hit by the hail of gunfire, according to Dowdell’s grandmother Annette Allen, who made the revelation on Sunday.
