Police say surveillance video showed the fleeing jewelry-theft suspect did not threaten anyone with the hammer he carried.
FORT WORTH, TX — A security guard has been charged with murder after police said he fatally shot a 20-year-old man who was fleeing a Fort Worth shopping center after smashing a jewelry display and taking gold necklaces.
Tyron Douglas Henton Jr., 31, was arrested Oct. 16 in connection with the Oct. 14 shooting at La Gran Plaza in the 4200 block of South Freeway near Seminary Drive. An arrest warrant affidavit released after Henton’s arrest says investigators concluded that Deavyn Lee Holt did not pose an imminent threat to Henton or anyone else when Henton opened fire. The murder charge is an allegation, and Henton has not been convicted.
According to the affidavit, Holt entered the shopping center wearing a black mask and carrying a hammer. He approached the Electronic Plus kiosk and used the hammer to break glass around a jewelry display. Investigators said Holt then grabbed a felt-lined panel containing gold necklaces and ran toward an exit. Henton, an armed security guard, told investigators he heard the glass break, looked up and saw Holt running away.
The affidavit identifies Henton as an employee of Tactical Enforcement Protective Division who was providing armed security for the Electronic Plus kiosk and ParadIce Jewelry store. Henton began chasing Holt through the shopping center, according to the warrant. Henton told police that as Holt neared an exit, he saw Holt holding the hammer and running past a child. Henton said he believed Holt posed a threat to the child.
Investigators said Henton then fired in two separate sequences. The affidavit says he fired three shots while he and Holt were still inside the shopping center and two additional shots after both men had gone outside. Police said Holt was struck at least once. He continued across the parking lot before collapsing near Seminary Drive.
Officers responded shortly after 8:30 p.m. and found Holt outside the shopping center. Police officers and Fort Worth firefighters attempted lifesaving measures, including CPR, but medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as 20-year-old Deavyn Lee Holt, according to local reporting.
The warrant says Henton told investigators that he had not seen Holt carrying any property other than the hammer. He also told police that when he fired, he did not believe Holt had stolen anything from the kiosk. Investigators reviewed surveillance video and interviewed witnesses as they examined whether Holt presented an immediate danger while running away.
According to the affidavit, the surveillance footage showed Holt carrying the hammer as he fled but did not show him using it to threaten Henton, the child or anyone else. The warrant states that Henton could not identify an imminent threat posed by Holt at the time of the shooting. Fort Worth police Officer Cynthia Wood later said investigators believed the use of deadly force was not justified under the circumstances. “That was not the time to use that. No one was in danger at the time,” Wood told FOX 4.
The details in the affidavit provide a fuller account than police released immediately after the shooting. In the first hours of the investigation, authorities said an armed security guard had fired after a man was seen smashing glass cases at a jewelry kiosk, but they said detectives were still investigating what led to the gunfire. Police later arrested Henton after reviewing the available evidence.
Henton was being held in the Tarrant County jail with bond set at $100,000, according to the latest available reporting. Police have not announced additional charges or a publicly confirmed next court date. The case remains subject to the criminal court process, where prosecutors would have to prove the murder allegation beyond a reasonable doubt.
Author note: Last updated October 20, 2026.