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Christopher Verland Ayers III, 28, who was in custody for unrelated charges in Phoenix, has been charged in connection to the shooting death of former Mount Vernon football standout Lance McDowdell, a member of the Arizona Rattlers indoor football team.
Ayers, who is still facing additional charges, was charged with second-degree murder this week, police said.
McDowdell, 25, was found with a gunshot wound in the driveway of a Phoenix apartment complex on Friday, Dec. 20, police said. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
McDowell was a football standout in Mount Vernon before he took his talents to Nassau Community College and the University of Central Florida. He had been a mainstay in the front seven on the Rattlers’ defense, racking up 32 tackles from the nose tackle position, racking up three sacks and forcing a fumble en route to the Indoor Football League championship game.
"The Arizona Rattlers are aware that an investigation of this magnitude takes time and all evidence must be processed thoroughly to ensure justice is served and prosecution is successful,” the team wrote in a statement. McDowdell has been with the Rattlers since 2018, becoming a full-time starter last season.
McDowdell also played basketball and was an all-state selection his senior year at the Biondi School in Yonkers. He played football at Mount Vernon High School because Biondi did not have a football program.
He was recruited by Alabama, Auburn, Boston College, Georgia, Miami, Nebraska, Syracuse, Tennessee, and USC while in high school.
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