Two Teens Charged in Killing of Alabama High School Football Player: ‘Standout Athlete and Terrific Young Man’

Two teenagers have been accused of killing an Alabama high school football player and injuring another teen in the process.

via People:

Elijah Rogers, 18, and Barthonia Howard, 18, were arrested Monday, Aug. 12, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and charged with murder and attempted murder, according to Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) which is overseeing the investigation.

On Thursday, Aug. 8, a 16-year-old was found deceased in Notasulga, Ala., per two ALEA press releases obtained by PEOPLE.

A 17-year-old was also injured in the incident and subsequently hospitalized, per ALEA.

Amanda Wasden, director of external affairs for ALEA, declined to answer a list of questions submitted by PEOPLE regarding the ongoing investigation or to provide the names of the teens.

But AL.com reports from charging documents that Javion Gary was fatally shot and that the other teen – both students at Loachapoka High School – sustained a wound to the foot as the shooting unfolded.

Javion’s high school football coach confirmed his death in a social media post.

A promising athlete, Javion was described by Head Coach Branden Hall in the post as a kid who “always had a smile” and “always made me smile!”

“Keep smiling down on us!” Hall wrote in a post directed at Javion. “We won’t ever forget you. Til I see you again keep making them laugh!”

Anthony Bryant said he coached Javion as part of Tri-County Dawg Pound, a community youth organization starting in 2017.

“When I first met him, I instantly knew he had potential to be a great football player,” Bryant wrote in a Facebook post last year, noting that the teen had been “on the verge of being done with football” and “I got at him and revived his spirit. He came out in spring and I could tell I had my boy back.”

He had even garnered interest from college scouts, Bryant said.

“Now Middle Tennessee State is asking who is that #11?” he wrote in 2023. “It’s Javion Gary sophomore ILB. Remember the name.”

Powerhouse Sports, a company out of Foley, Ala., called the teen “a standout athlete and terrific young man off the field,” adding: “Javion Gary was taken from us all too early.”

Rogers and Howard were booked without bond into the Tuscaloosa County Jail, with a hold for Macon County, where the homicide took place, according to ALEA. In the press release, the agency specified that the 18-year-olds would be tried as adults.

It was not immediately clear if they had retained lawyers.

It saddens us to see these young Black men not only took a life, but ruined their own in the process.

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