Officials say the suspects intended to target someone else when 16-year-old Davell Holden was shot and killed on Aug. 2 near 160th Place and Drexel Avenue.
SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. — Two men and a teenage boy have been charged in the August shooting death of Thornwood High School basketball player Davell Holden, after investigators said the group set out to retaliate against a rival but killed the 16-year-old by mistake.
Police announced the arrests this week after a months-long investigation with the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force. Investigators identified Javan Moore, 21, as the alleged shooter, and said Demon Smith, 20, and a 16-year-old boy from Phoenix, Illinois, took part in planning and carrying out the attack. Officials described the case as a targeted ambush that hit the wrong teen, renewing concerns over gang violence spilling onto neighborhood streets as winter break approaches for area schools. The case has moved into the courts as detectives continue gathering video, ballistics and phone records.
Holden was fatally shot the evening of Aug. 2 while walking near 160th Place and Drexel Avenue on South Holland’s east side, according to officials. Police said the shooters drove into the neighborhood looking for a rival connected to an earlier dispute. Instead, they encountered Holden, a Thornwood junior and honor-roll student who was visiting friends. “My baby was loved by so many people,” Holden’s mother, Angela Birts, said during Monday’s announcement at Village Hall, where police displayed booking photos and a timeline of the investigation. South Holland Police Chief Shawn Staples said Moore, Smith and the juvenile suspect acted together and fled after the gunfire. “This was senseless,” Staples said. “A young man with a bright future was taken from his family.”
Authorities said Moore faces first-degree murder, while Smith and the 16-year-old are charged with felony murder in connection with the killing. Investigators said all three suspects are linked to the same gang and had coordinated by phone before the shooting. The juvenile has not been named because of his age. Police said the group’s intended target lived in the area and that the suspects returned there several times during the week of the attack. Detectives obtained home-security footage, pulled license plate data and analyzed call records to tie the suspects to a vehicle seen circling the block before shots were fired. Officials did not say how many rounds were fired or release the caliber of the weapon, and the gun has not been publicly recovered.
Holden’s death shook Thornwood High School in nearby South Holland, where teammates and coaches remembered him as a quiet leader who excelled in the classroom. A vigil on the school’s football field days after the shooting brought hundreds of students and neighbors, who released balloons and wore the team’s colors. The village offered a reward during the fall as detectives followed tips from the community. Records show police worked with the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and outside agencies to track the suspects’ movements in and out of Phoenix, about five miles west, and to conduct a series of interviews that led to the arrests in mid-December.
Court records show Moore is charged with first-degree murder and remains held without bond pending further hearings. Smith and the 16-year-old are charged with felony murder, a count alleging they participated in a felony that led to Holden’s death. Prosecutors said additional counts could be added as forensic testing concludes. The defendants are expected back in Cook County court later this week for status hearings. Police said they continue to pursue search warrants for additional devices and are awaiting laboratory reports on shell casings recovered at the scene. Officials said no other suspects are being sought at this time.
Outside Village Hall on Monday, Birts thanked detectives and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force for their work. “I’m grateful for the job they’ve done,” she said, standing with relatives who carried a framed photo of Holden in his Thornwood jersey. Neighbors described the block as quiet and family-oriented, with children walking to friends’ homes in the summer. “We heard the car slow down and then the shots,” said a resident who asked not to be named for safety reasons. “It was chaos for a minute.” A small memorial of candles and flowers remained on the corner into the fall.
As of Tuesday, all three defendants were in custody and the case had been assigned to a Cook County courtroom in Markham. Detectives said they will brief village trustees on the investigation’s next steps after the court’s initial hearings, expected this week. A public update from police is anticipated after those appearances, with the next milestone likely the setting of preliminary hearing dates before the end of December.
Author note: Last updated December 16, 2025.