Man Charged With Killing Mother Of Four In Nashville
A 21-year-old Nashville man is charged with killing a 25-year-old mother of four, leaving her children without either parent. He told detectives she was a danger to him — then couldn't say why.
Case at a glance
- Cenya Holland — mother of four, shot outside her apartment complex, victim
- Gemaurien Robinson — 21-year-old charged with criminal homicide in Holland's death, charged
- Aubrey Bellamy — father of the four children, killed in a separate Nashville shooting last December, victim
- Eelexus Holland — Cenya Holland's sister
- Alexis Froman — Cenya Holland's cousin
Next: WZTV reported Robinson was due in court Nov. 10, two days before this report. None of the coverage reviewed here confirms what happened at that hearing, whether Robinson has entered a plea, or whether his bond status — reported as held without bond — has changed since. Whether prosecutors specify a degree of homicide under the broader criminal homicide charge is also unresolved in the available reporting.
A shooting outside the Fallbrook Apartments
Cenya Holland, 25, was walking home from work the night of Friday, Nov. 6, when she was shot multiple times near the entrance of the Fallbrook Apartments at 345 Dellway Villa Drive in East Nashville. Metro Nashville police say officers responded to a report of shots fired around 10:15 p.m.
Officers found Holland suffering from multiple gunshot wounds near the apartment entrance. She was taken to TriStar Skyline Medical Center, where she died.
Who Cenya Holland was
Family members described Holland as a mother working to build a stable future for her four children, all age 4 and younger, including a pair of 1-year-old twins.
Her cousin, Alexis Froman, told News 2 that Holland "was always laughing, joking, like the light in the room," and said she was "very passionate about being a mother, a family member, a friend."
Holland's sister, Eelexus Holland, said the two had been talking about Thanksgiving plans in the days before the shooting, including a holiday menu of macaroni and cheese, greens and a casserole Holland planned to make. Those conversations, she told News 2, turned out to be some of the last they shared.
Family members said Holland had been walking home from work, where she had been working to support her children, when she was killed.
"When I found out, I let out a scream that nobody would ever want to hear," — Eelexus Holland, Cenya Holland's sister, told News 2.
A second parent gone within a year
Holland's four children had already lost their father. Family members told News 2 that Aubrey Bellamy, the children's father, was killed in a shooting in Madison last December.
Eelexus Holland said the back-to-back losses have been overwhelming for the family. "Now the fact that he's gone, she's gone, it's a lot," she told News 2.
Relatives are now preparing to raise all four children, including the twins, full-time. Eelexus Holland said the family needs help covering clothing, furniture and larger living arrangements, and has started a fundraiser to cover funeral costs.
The charge, and what Robinson told detectives
Homicide detectives reviewed surveillance video from the complex and interviewed witnesses. That work led them to 21-year-old Gemaurien Robinson, who lived at the same apartments.
During an interview with detectives, Robinson admitted to shooting Holland. He told investigators the two had been walking together when he fired, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department and multiple outlets, including WSMV, WZTV and the Davidson County Source.
Robinson said he believed Holland was a danger to him. Police said he did not identify any specific threat and gave no reason for why he shot her.
He is charged with criminal homicide, a broad category under Tennessee law covering unlawful killings from first-degree murder down to reckless homicide. None of the coverage reviewed specifies which degree prosecutors are pursuing.
WZTV reported Robinson was being held without bond and was due in court Nov. 10.
What Holland's family says about his account
Froman rejected the idea that Holland posed any danger to Robinson. "She might be a little spicy, but she's the type of person that if you are not a danger to her, if you are not physically doing something, she would never attack someone for no reason," she told News 2.
Eelexus Holland described the moment she learned her sister was dead. "When I found out, I let out a scream that nobody would ever want to hear," she told News 2.
Froman said the case should be a warning. "We have to start protecting women," she told News 2, encouraging anyone who feels unsafe to reach out to someone they trust.
What happens next
WZTV reported Robinson was due in court Nov. 10, two days before this report. None of the coverage reviewed here confirms what happened at that hearing, whether Robinson has entered a plea, or whether his bond status — reported as held without bond — has changed since. Whether prosecutors specify a degree of homicide under the broader criminal homicide charge is also unresolved in the available reporting.
How this plays in court
A prosecutor's first move here is simple: lock in the admission. Robinson doesn't dispute that he pulled the trigger — he told detectives himself. That takes identity off the table and narrows the entire case to one question: was the shooting justified?
The state's strongest asset is the gap in his own statement. Robinson said Holland was a danger to him, but by every outlet's account, he could not name a specific threat or give a reason for shooting her. Tennessee's self-defense law requires a reasonable belief of imminent danger, not just a feeling. Prosecutors will argue that a claim with no facts behind it fails that test on its face.
The defense has limited room to work with on this record. They will likely try to build out whatever Robinson can describe about the moments before he fired — body language, words exchanged, anything that could support even a subjective, if mistaken, belief of danger. Without a weapon, an injury, or a described threat from Holland in the record so far, that is a hard case to make.
A jury weighing this will focus on exactly what detectives flagged: the absence of a reason. No specific threat, no visible danger, a woman walking home from work who ended up dead. The surveillance footage police cited will carry more weight than any statement Robinson gave after the fact.
- Yahoo: Man Charged With Killing Mother Of Four In Nashville
- Nashville.gov: Man Charged with Criminal Homicide after Friday's Shooting on Dellway Villa Drive
- WSMV: Man charged with criminal homicide after woman fatally shot near Nashville apartment complex
- Davidson County Source: Woman Killed in Shooting at Nashville Apartment Complex
- WZTV: Man charged in murder of woman in East Nashville told police 'she was a danger to him'