CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A community is grieving along with the family of Walker Phillips, a 10-year-old boy who was killed when a fire destroyed his family's home in Cartersville early Friday morning.
Walker is the son of former UGA quarterback Cory Phillips and former UGA gymnast Courtney Phillips.
Investigators are now working to find out how the fire started, while those who know and love the Phillips family are embracing them in support.
“It’s been a tough few days. Definitely been a tough few days,” said Pastor James Griffin, the lead pastor of Crosspoint City Church in Cartersville.
Griffin told 11Alive Sunday the congregation and the surrounding community are supporting the Phillips family in prayer and every other way they can.
The Cartersville Fire Department got the call at 3 a.m. Friday that the Phillips home was on fire. Walker died, but his brother, sister and their grandmother were able to escape.
The children’s parents, former University of Georgia quarterback Cory Phillips and former UGA gymnast Courtney Phillips, were out of town. They rushed back, and now are with family and friends, "trying to deal with all the emotions of what’s happened, and haven’t processed it all,” Griffin said.
Griffin speaks of Walker as the son everyone would want.
“Everyone that I know who knew Walker just spoke of what an incredible young man he was. Very athletic, loved by everyone he came in contact with, strong in his faith,” the pastor said.
Tributes on social media from Walker’s youth football coaches and his Cartersville Little League coaches describe how he encouraged his teammates and tried to lift their spirits. They said he was developing into a great student athlete.
“He was a wall behind home plate and a force on the mound,” a little league coach wrote on Facebook.
“His dad sent me his last Bible quiz from North Cobb Christian (School), texted it to me earlier today,” Griffin said, “It’s very clear just in reading his work that he knew what was true about life and about eternity. And I have no doubt that, in the midst of what happened, that Walker, he’s with the Lord right now. And I know that the family takes hope in that, just as everybody who knew him does.”
Griffin said the family told him they need prayer.
“Everything has been so fresh and so raw,” he said. “This is a family that is loved in this community, and really the biggest need, at this point, has been prayer, and that is what the family has asked for, and that is what the family has communicated they need most. I pass that along on their behalf, they really need prayer, right now, for God to hold them up, prayer to endure through this really, really difficult time, and so I would say that’s the best way that people can serve the family, right now, today.”
On Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp offered his condolences to the family.
"I know they've experienced just a heartbreaking and tragic loss," he said, adding that his wife and daughters have them in their thoughts and prayers.
Services have not been announced at this time.