A late-August party in Harriman ended in a deadly shooting. In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 30, 2025, 18-year-old Holden Howse Lavita of Lenoir City was shot in the head at a gathering held at a vehicle and boat detailing business and later pronounced dead at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. More than twenty young people attended the event; reports say alcohol and firearms were present.

Authorities traced the shooting to a 17-year-old male from Rockwood after a traffic stop on a speeding vehicle leaving the party. The juvenile was taken into custody and petitions for second-degree murder and aggravated assault were filed in Roane County Juvenile Court; he is also accused of striking another 18-year-old, Terre Lee, with the same gun. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was asked to assist because of multiple witnesses and scenes.

Friends and family remembered Lavita as a loving, hard-working high school senior who had recently turned 18 and was trying to turn his life around while supporting himself through construction and delivery work. Did anyone who attended that party or saw vehicles leaving the scene that morning notice anything that could help investigators?