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Grieving dad, ‘neighborhood hero’ fatally shot at Mechanicsville sports bar
Terence Denson wanted to stop the bloodshed in his community, his family and friends say
There’s no telling what Terence “Favors” Denson could have accomplished if he had more time.
A man whose life was marred by gun violence, the 36-year-old was putting all of his energy into improving his Mechanicsville community. In recent months, the slaying of his 15-year-old son and being witness to a park shooting that seriously injured a child ignited new purpose in Denson. With a single goal to stop the bloodshed, his loved ones said he was making strides.
Terence Denson Jr
Denson was finalizing his own nonprofit organization to help local youth stop using guns. He was attending training, participating in community conversations and giving back when he could, family and friends said.
Those efforts came to an abrupt halt Thursday night when Denson was fatally shot at his neighborhood bar. He was one of two victims killed in what Atlanta police said was a dispute that escalated.
Just last month, Denson was rallying for peace after helping save a 6-year-old girl during the shooting at Rosa L. Burney Park when he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “We want all the neighborhoods to be safe. There’s an opportunity to grow and save the generation. (Gun violence) has been going on for too long. I had to go through the trials and tribulations to learn that life is worth living.”
Police found the two men last week with multiple gunshot wounds at 656 Sports Bar and Grille at the corner of Pryor Street and Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard. Lying outside, not far from his godmother’s home, Denson was pronounced dead at the scene. The other man was conscious when he was taken to the hospital.
It was a bar Denson frequented to watch sports, and one where his family had recently gotten together to discuss changes needed in the community.
When the mother of his daughter, Kashon Caldwell, got the phone call about his shooting, a sinking feeling left her out of breath. It was the same feeling she got when Denson’s son was killed: despair.
“Just seeing him lying there, I can never get that picture out of my head. And I just want to know why,” she said. “I knew he was dead, but I just couldn’t process that he was gone.”
Family friend Tekesia Shields said investigators told her a fight broke out at the bar, but that “it wasn’t (Denson’s) fault.” She was told he got caught in the crossfire, a bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Atlanta police did not release information about Denson’s involvement in the shooting but confirmed it was the result of a dispute. His death remains under investigation, and no arrests have been announced.
It was a shocking end to a tragedy in three acts.
Still trying to pick up the pieces after his son was gunned down June 21 at a Clayton County apartment complex, Denson cradled a bleeding 6-year-old girl as he rushed with her mother to a hospital following the Aug. 7 park shooting.
Denson was watching a ballgame when, according to police, a dispute erupted into gunfire, and four people were shot, including 6-year-old Serenity Stephens. Two adults were killed.
During the rally that followed, Denson told the AJC he could not sit idly by when the girl was shot. He got into the first car he saw and told the driver to go to the hospital as he held Stephens in his arms. That evening, his family said he walked back to his home covered in blood, in complete shock that tragedy had struck again.
“Everyone was chilling, then 30 minutes later — gunshots,” he recalled. “Then it stopped for a couple seconds and then I hear a lady yell, ‘My child!’ After losing my child, I automatically reacted to save the child.”
Since the two shootings, his loved ones said something in Denson changed for the better. He was no longer the laid-back man they once knew.
He was in the final stages of establishing a nonprofit organization meant to support Atlanta’s youth. His daughter, Ty-tianna Caldwell, said Denson held onto the hope that he could create a better community than her brother, also named Terence Denson, got to experience.
“My father, while he was here, he did his best with what he had,” she said.
The new organization was meant to divert young people from turning toward guns to resolve their problems, family friend Kiska Lyons said. Denson also spoke about offering conflict resolution workshops for children in the area.
“(Denson) understood that an idle mind was a devil’s workshop and sometimes that’s what children got caught up in,” Lyons said.
This past Monday, Denson was scheduled to attend training on how to host healing circles for communities dealing with trauma, especially those impacted by gun violence.
“I watched him grow. He watched me grow. He was always there,” said family member Iresha Ridley. “He was like the neighborhood hero. He came and saved the day for a lot of people in a lot of different ways.”
The community will gather for a balloon release in Denson’s honor at 7 p.m. Saturday at Rawson-Washington Park on the basketball courts. Attendees are encouraged to bring a white or blue balloon.
