Slain student honored Friday at community basketball game

By WVUA 23 News Reporter Ryan Gillin

Friday night at the McAbee Center in Tuscaloosa, one team playing in a youth community basketball game sent in four players instead of five in memory of the 8-year-old player who was killed alongside his mother earlier in the week.

The emotional tribute was in honor of Aiden Carter Williams, who died Thursday morning with his mother, 29-year-old Derika Shanice McGhee. Both were killed by 34-year-old Darrin Lamar Patton Jr., who then took his own life.

As players, coaches and the crowd honored Aiden’s life and legacy, the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority did so as well, renaming the league’s Player of the Year award in Aiden’s honor.

Funeral arrangements for Aiden and McGhee have not yet been announced.