Man takes 30-year prison sentence for teen's killing in Kennedale

The man who murdered an Arlington martin football player in the middle of a crowded street is going to prison.

Devin Holland, 21, pled guilty to murder while engaging in organized crime for his alleged gang ties and two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He took a plea deal and a prison sentence of 30 years.

While the victim's family feels closure, they're not sure if justice was fully served.

The victim Carl Wilson was not affiliated with any gangs, but he agreed to a fight at a Kennedale car wash after school to finish a dust-up that started in the school cafeteria.

Wilson's family says they'd hoped for a more than 30 year prison sentence.

“It made us relive what happened all over again,” Eva Wilson-Green, Wilson's aunt, said. “We were all looking for at least 40 or more … maybe a life sentence. We know it won't bring Carl back, but some justice is better than no justice.”

Wilson was a linebacker for the Martin High School Warriors. He was 18 and the single father of a little boy who is about to have his third birthday.

“He wanted to make it he wanted the NFL his biggest thing he wanted to make it to the NFL for his son, for king, that's all he talked about,” Donald Mitchell, former classmate, said.

Police documents say Wilson was in a fight with someone from Holland's gang. Holland got a gun and shot Wilson,

When he fell to the ground, police say Holland shot Wilson two more times as a crowd of about two dozen people watched.

Kennedale Police Chief Tommy Williams says, for investigators, it closes the chapter on a senseless crime that took the life of an innocent teenager and sent another young man to prison.

“It's a tragedy and we have to live with it for the rest of our lives.” Wilson-Green said. “Every birthday we'll go to the gravesite. I think about him all of the time still. It seems unreal that he's gone.”