Teen shoots and kills ex-girlfriend’s best friend at IHOP, Georgia officials say
A Georgia man is sentenced to prison after being found guilty of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend’s best friend outside of IHOP in 2023, prosecutors said.
Jakari Naki Childs, 18, was sentenced to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole, plus six years to be served consecutively, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office said in a July 9 news release.
Childs was convicted June 20 of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a pistol or revolver by a person under 18 years old, prosecutors said.
McClatchy News reached out to Childs’ attorney July 10 but did not receive an immediate response.
Officers responded to a shooting July 15, 2023, outside of an IHOP in Lithonia, where they found 16-year-old Jacob Johnson, who had been shot in the head, prosecutors said.
Police said a witness told them Childs — the accused shooter and her ex-boyfriend — showed up with a gun at the IHOP where she and Johnson, her best friend, worked, according to prosecutors.
Then, he walked outside and she and Johnson followed, prosecutors said. When Childs’ ex-girlfriend asked him to leave, he reached for his gun and “immediately shot Johnson,” killing him, prosecutors said.
All three teens went to school together, prosecutors said.
Tiya Morgan, Johnson’s mother, told 11Alive her son loved roller skating and had a goal to become a lawyer.
“They didn’t just rob him, they robbed the world of my child,” Morgan said, according to the outlet.
Lithonia is about a 20-mile drive southeast from Atlanta.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Teen shoots and kills ex-girlfriend’s best friend at IHOP, Georgia officials say."
