Clarendon Mom Attacked; Fights Off Knife-Wielding Trio

An Arlington mom said she was trying to protect her family Thursday when she was attacked by three young men who came looking for her son.

Theresa Honesty Howard said she was inside her Arlington County apartment eating dinner when someone knocked on her door. When she opened it, she saw three young men holding knives.

The men were apparently angry that her 20-year-old son had been seen with one of their ex-girlfriends.

"The dudes came busting through the door," Howard said. "One dude grabbed me by the neck ... and had me with a knife to the throat."

Theresa's boyfriend and other man scared off the attackers, who ran. But she chased them, determined they would not get away.

She suffered two black eyes and bruises in the fight that followed.

"My baby is more important than anything," Howard said. "You going to do something to my baby, you better kill me first."

She was also protecting her 70-year-old mother and several children, who were in the apartment at the time.

"I thought he was going to kill her," said her mom, Patricia Haight. "He had the knife to her neck. But she protected herself."

The three teen attackers ran off, but Arlington police quickly caught them as they tried to get on the Metro at the Court House station, a few blocks away.

Kyre Johnson, 19, Tyrek Johnson, 18, and William Jenkins-Morton, 18 -- all of Washington, D.C. -- were arrested and charged with malicious wounding by mob and burglary with the intent to commit assault.

Howard was sent to the hospital for treatment and released, with her black eyes as proof of what she would do for her family.

"I get to walk around like this for Mother's Day," she laughed.

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