WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A family is mourning after 14-year-old TraQuavis Holloway was shot and killed Saturday night.
TraQuavis Holloway told his father, Tommie Holloway, that he wanted to go to the movies that Saturday night.
“He begged me to go to the movies,” Holloway said. “I really didn’t want to. We sat there, probably, 15-20 minutes going back and forth with him.”
Holloway said he ultimately gave his son a ride to the Galleria Cinema on Margie Drive.
“20 minutes later, we get a phone call that something had happened to my son,” Holloway explained.
Warner Robins Police Sgt. Justin Clark says it all started at the Galleria Cinema. He said that a group of juveniles had just been kicked out of the theaters.
“Once they left the movie theater, they migrated across the street to the Mitsubishi dealership near Sonic,” Clark said.
Clark said they got into some kind of an argument. He says TraQuavis wasn't part of the argument but ended up getting shot in the head.
“One of our officers was actually working in the area at the time. Whenever the incident first kicked off, he was able to see the initial parts of the shooting and responded to the area,” Clark explained.
He says the officer offered TraQuavis help while the alleged shooter – a 13-year-old – ran into the Cotija Mexican food restaurant where he was arrested.
“When he [TraQuavis] got out of the car, he said, ‘I love you, dad’. I'm sitting there, like, how did something happen to him? He just got out of the car with me,” Holloway said.
Holloway says his son was a good kid who loved to play sports.
“My son was a star. When he opened his mouth to smile, he brightened up everybody's room. He wasn’t no troublemaker at all,” he said.
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Remembering TraQuaivs Holloway
Holloway says violence and crime among teens are on the rise, saying there are no good influences to teach children about gun violence. His family tried their best to keep their son away from that.
“Y’all have got to talk to these children about these guns. These guns aren’t anything to play with. Ain’t no rewind button. You can’t start over once you’ve taken a life,” Holloway said. “It's killing me that I wasn’t there to protect him this time.”
Holloway says hopes something can be done about the gun violence.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without that little boy,” Holloway said.
Sgt. Clark says they are still talking to people to find out what happened. Clark says the 13-year-old suspect will be tried as an adult through the Houston County Superior Court. He's charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, and two gun charges.
Holloway is one of two homicides in Warner Robins this weekend. Warner Robins leaders gathered for a press conference Monday to respond to the string of homicides, with three people killed within the past week.
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