Terence Howard Jr., 15,<\/a> was convicted in March 2026 of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 14-year-old Tra\u2019Quavis Holloway, following a fight outside a Warner Robins movie theater in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\nHe was sentenced to 37 years in prison, with the first 32 years to be served behind bars.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say Howard opened fire during the confrontation, shooting six times and killing Holloway.<\/p>\n
Now, Howard\u2019s parents are speaking out for the first time since the conviction, saying they believe the case was not handled fairly and that key details were overlooked during the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want the public to understand this,\u201d Latasha Wood said. \u201cI\u2019m not here to argue, attack or belittle anyone. I\u2019m here as a mother, a mother to my son who was 13 at the time that he faced a life-threatening situation, who is now facing 37 years in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood said the last two years have been defined by fear, stress and grief for her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur silence was never acceptance of the one-sided narrative,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were simply in obedience to our legal guidance that we could not speak because it was an ongoing trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the emotional toll extended far beyond the courtroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor two years, my family has went through a nightmare,\u201d Wood said. \u201cIt\u2019s been devastating, not just emotionally, but mentally, physically, spiritually and financially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood also said the family was forced to relocate because of threats and harassment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were forced to move because of death threats and harassment,\u201d she said. \u201cI had to go in my room and cry for two years so my children didn\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s devastating because I\u2019m not knowing if I would even be here when my son returned home,\u201d his father, Terence Howard Sr., said.<\/p>\n
The parents say their son was surrounded and attacked by a group of teens outside the movie theater before the situation escalated. They say he did not know the group beforehand and describe the incident as a life-threatening situation.<\/p>\n
She and Howard Sr. maintain that their son was attacked before the shooting occurred and that he was acting in fear for his safety.<\/p>\n
When describing what they believe went wrong in the case, Wood said she felt key evidence supporting self-defense was not properly considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe there were critical failures in how his case was handled,\u201d she said. \u201cEvidence that supported my son\u2019s self-defense was not properly weighed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood also said multiple individuals involved in the confrontation admitted to attacking her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree of the individuals who attacked my son admitted under oath to attacking him, but no charges have been filed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also questioned how her son was treated in the legal system because of his age.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son was never protected as a victim,\u201d Wood said. \u201cThere was only one innocent bystander that night, and that was my son, because my son was underage with a weapon they focused on the underage part and not the self defense aspect of it.”<\/p>\n
She added that she believes he should not have been tried as an adult.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son was 13 years old,\u201d she said. \u201cHis age nor his maturity were considered at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood described her son as kindhearted and said he is still struggling to process the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still a child trying to process something so incredibly heavy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The family also said they are now working with legal counsel as they consider next steps following the conviction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are actively pursuing legal options,\u201d Wood said. \u201cWe are committed to seeing this through the proper legal channels.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family has also launched a website, justiceforjunior.com<\/a>, where they are sharing their perspective and asking for support as they continue navigating the legal process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parents of a Houston County teen convicted in a 2024 movie theater shooting say their son was not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-255739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-headlines","10":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}