At approximately 4:30 am [Saturday, August 30, 2025] Harriman Police began working on a scene at the Mr. Clean business location (a vehicle and boat detailing business) in Harriman where approximately twenty-plus teenagers and young adults were engaged in a ‘party’ involving alcohol and where guns were present. An 18-year-old male, Holden Howse (a/k/a Holden Howse Lavita) from Lenoir City had been shot in the head. The gunshot victim was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.

Harriman Police had already pulled over a speeding vehicle with two individuals that they then learned had been at this party. One of the occupants of the vehicle, (a 17-year-old male from Rockwood) [name withheld for purpose of this release until the juvenile petition is filed in the Clerk’s Office] was ultimately suspected of being the individual who shot Holden Howse. This juvenile suspect, through further investigation, is also suspected of attacking another victim, Terre Lee (an 18-year-old male from Kingston) by hitting him with the gun from which Howse was allegedly shot.

District Attorney Russell Johnson predicated the investigation to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation because of the number of witnesses, the separate scenes of the party where the beating and shooting evidently took place, as well as the stopped vehicle, and the need for search warrants for the vehicle and its contents. Additionally, the location of the party is owned by a member of the Harriman City Council, and an adult family member was present as a witness and is considered to be a possible ‘host’ of the party at that location. TBI sent three agents who were assisted by an investigator from the District Attorney’s Office.

Some aspects of the investigation are still ongoing. Petitions on the 17-year-old suspect for second degree murder and aggravated assault are being taken out in Roane County Juvenile Court. Tennessee law makes the names of juveniles over 14 years old are subject to public disclosure if charged with second degree murder.