* A police cruiser is parked outside police tape near the mass shooting in Dadeville, Alabama on April 16
Photo Credit: Jake Crandell/USA Today via Montgomery Advertiser
- - -
Phil Dowdell, a returning Alabama Class 3A state champion in the 100m and 200m, was one of four individuals reportedly killed during a shooting at a birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama on Saturday, the Birmingham News first reported.
Another 20 individuals, AL.com wrote, were also injured during the attack.
The shooting was said to have been committed inside a converted dance studio just after 10:34 p.m. EST in Dadeville, a town of just over 3,000 located roughly 85 miles Southeast of Birmingham and 60 miles northeast of Montgomery.
Dowdell, who was reportedly committed to Jacksonville State to play football, was attending the 16th birthday party of his sister, Alexis. The AP reported that Dowdell's mother was also injured in the shooting.
As a sprinter on the track, Dowdell was continually improving. In March, the senior had broken 11 seconds for the first time in the 100m, clocking a time of 10.95 seconds. He had also run a career-best time of 22.39 in the 200m.
A year earlier, Dowd had won the AHSAA class 3A 100m in 11.00 and the 200m in 22.52.
Just two days earlier, on April 14, Dowd had run at the Troy Invitational, winning the 100m in 11.05 and finishing second in the 200m.
There have been reportedly over 150 mass shootings in the United States in 2023 alone, according to the BBC and the Gun Violence Archive.