Carl Wilson was an 18-year-old linebacker for the Martin High School Warriors and a single father when he was killed on January 12, 2015, following a dispute that began in the school cafeteria. The conflict was taken outside school hours to a Kennedale car wash, where Wilson agreed to fight another student. A crowd of about two dozen people, including members of a local gang, gathered to watch.

During the altercation, 20-year-old gang member Devin Holland retrieved a gun and shot Wilson once in the abdomen and twice in the head as he lay on the ground. Holland was later arrested and charged with murder; in February 2016 he pled guilty to murder while engaging in organized crime and received a 30-year prison sentence. Wilson’s grandmother, Karen Deaver Rhodes, described him as a loving young man who had tried to avoid gangs and drugs.

Wilson’s family said the sentence brought mixed feelings—some closure but not the full measure of justice they had hoped for. The case drew attention to gang violence and its impact on the community. If anyone knew Carl, where he spent his time, or saw what happened at the car wash that day, please come forward with information.