Former S. Ga. football player among Auburn shooting victims

AUBURN, Ala. - A former south Georgia high school football star is among the dead in the weekend shootings near Auburn University.

Published reports in the Atlanta Journal Constitution said Edward Christian, 20, was an offensive lineman from Valdosta who was red-shirted during the last season and was currently side-lined with back injuries.

Police have identified Christian as one of three who were killed at the scene Saturday night.

Christian graduated from Lowndes High School in 2010 and was named to the AJC's 2009 Super 11 high school standout players list.

The Associated Press reported Monday that authorities were searching for Desmonte Leonard, 22, of Montgomery, who is accused of opening fire Saturday night at an apartment complex after getting into a fight with some of the victims over a woman. He faces three counts of capital murder.

Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson said Leonard fled the scene in a white Chevrolet that he abandoned on the way back to Montgomery, about 55 miles away. They believed he was in the Montgomery area.

In addition to Christian, Ladarious Phillips, who had previously quit playing football for Auburn, was shot to death. The other person killed was 20-year-old Demario Pitts.

Police emphasized that the shootings didn't appear to have anything to do with some of the victims being former or current players on the football team.

"The only connection that the Auburn football team has to this is they are victims of a brutal shooting. Sometimes the young men get a bad rap, I feel like, but they are the victims today," Dawson said.