This is a report from a local Newspaper in Alabama where I live.
Terrance Wilkes of Wadley, Alabama's all-time high school football scoring leader, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in his hometown Saturday afternoon, school officials said.
A cousin, Jasper Buchannan, currently a University of Alabama student and a former Horseshoe Bend High School football standout, was also shot. Buchannan was airlifted to Birmingham, where he was in serious condition following surgery Saturday night.
Wilkes, 18, apparently was playing basketball with some friends at a neighborhood outdoor court not far from Wadley High School when the shooting occurred Saturday, said Wadley head football coach Randy Sparks.
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According to a statement by the Randolph County Sheriff's Department on Saturday night, deputies responded to a shooting call at 2:15 p.m. on Cooledge Street in Wadley. Two people were transported by personal vehicle to Randolph County Medical Center in Roanoke, according to sheriff's investigator Greg Dendinger. The statement contained no other details.
Efforts to reach other law enforcement authorities Saturday were unsuccessful.
Sparks, who lives in Wadley near the high school and just a few blocks from the basketball court, said he was outside at the time of the shooting but was on his lawnmower and did not hear any shots. He said that from what students have told him, he doesn't believe Wilkes was the intended victim.
"From what I have been told, it looks like a car drove by and just shot into the crowd," said Sparks, still numbed by the news Satuday night. "Terrance was transported to a hospital in Roanoke, and Jasper was taken to Birmingham. I think Terrance was probably already gone, from what I have been told."
Sparks said there was some kind of dispute at the outdoor court on Friday. Wilkes was not involved in that dispute, friends say.
"He wasn't even at the park on Friday," said former Wadley teammate, longtime friend and current Auburn University freshman wide receiver Terrell Zachery on Saturday night.
Zachery said Wilkes was his longtime best friend
"This is like losing a brother," said Zachery, who was back home Saturday night. "I just saw him a little while earlier (Saturday) afternoon at the store. We talked about me coming over to his house later on. I get back home and this happened."
Zachery said teammates and friends gathered Saturday night to try to sort through the tragedy. "Something like this just doesn't make any sense," he said.
Wilkes closed his prep career this season with 2,022 yards rushing on 280 attempts in 12 games and scored 36 touchdowns. He finished his career with 9,668 yards rushing on 1,096 rush attempts, with 152 rushing touchdowns. He scored 160 touchdowns overall, which ranks second nationally. The previous state mark was 153 touchdowns.
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Wilkes was recently named a finalist by the Alabama Sports Writers Association for Mr. Football. He was one of three Class 1A back of the year finalists. He was named all-state for three consecutive seasons.
"This has been just devastating news," said Sparks. "He was one of those kids that did everything right. In a coach's career, rarely does a kid come along like Terrance. You never forget kids like him. He was a youngster with a learning disability but he refused to be placed in LD classes. He was a model kid on and off the court who came from a good family. We just finished a semester and he came to me upset because he had all A's except for one class and he felt he deserved an A in that class too."
Wilkes' memorable prep career began when he was a seventh-grader with a 60-yard run on his first carry. His most memorable carry came against Winterboro when he was just a freshman, Sparks recalled.
Down 21-20 with only seconds left and the Bulldogs getting the ball back with no timeouts left at their own 3-yard line, Sparks opted to hand the ball to his young back even though he had a senior tailback on the field and his star receiver, Zachery, lined up at wideout.
"I thought they expected us to go to one of those kids," Sparks said. "We crossed them up and Terrance went 97 yards for the winning touchdown."
