{"id":168781,"date":"2025-08-23T09:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T09:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168781\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T09:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T09:17:30","slug":"2-of-6-accused-in-7-year-old-breon-allen-jr-s-murder-plead-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168781\/","title":{"rendered":"2 of 6 accused in 7-year-old Breon Allen Jr.\u2019s murder plead guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Two of the six people charged in the deadly shooting of Jacksonville 7-year-old Breon Allen Jr. in January<\/a> have entered guilty pleas in the case.<\/p>\n

Tavaris Kelly, 17, and Zharod Sykes, 24, changed their pleas to guilty in the deadly shooting, which also seriously injured Breon\u2019s cousin,<\/a> Lafayette Mango Jr., 21.<\/p>\n

Kelly, one of the gunmen who fired at Breon and his cousin, according to police, pleaded guilty on July 16 to second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and two gun charges.<\/p>\n

News4JAX spoke to the child\u2019s mom, who identified him as 7-year-old Breon Allen. She said the two were on the way to the corner store when the shots rang out. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Sykes pleaded guilty on June 24 to second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.<\/p>\n

The other four defendants — Donte McGhee, 17; Keith Fields, 18; Dannel Larkins, 20; and Keith Johnson, 21 — have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.<\/p>\n

McGhee, the other gunman, according to police, is also charged with attempted first-degree murder and shooting or throwing deadly missiles. He is scheduled to be back in court on Aug. 28.<\/p>\n

Johnson and Fields are also charged with attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Fields is due back in court on Aug. 28, and Johnson will be back in court on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n

JSO said 18-year-old Keith Fields, 20-year-old Dannel Larkins, 21-year-old Keith Johnson, and 24-year-old Zharod Sykes are facing several charges in connection with the shooting that killed Breon Allen Jr. and seriously injured his cousin, Lafayette Mango Jr., 21. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Larkins is also charged with tampering with evidence and is due back in court on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s plea agreement is sealed, but court documents show that Sykes agreed to \u201ctestify truthfully against co-defendants\u201d in his plea deal.<\/p>\n

Sykes\u2019 plea deal did not include a negotiated sentence, and he could face a maximum of life in prison for the second-degree murder charge and 30 years each on the other charges.<\/p>\n

Johnson is also facing charges in two unrelated cases.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>First Coast Crime Stoppers tip leads to arrest of 2 accused in shooting death of 7-year-old; group set to pay out $25K<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Sheriff T.K. Waters said the shooting was \u201ca targeted, planned act of bloodshed,\u201d adding that it was gang-affiliated.<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>\u2018He was a very happy child\u2019: Mother of 7-year-old boy killed in shooting on Jacksonville\u2019s Westside speaks out<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

According to the arrest warrants for Fields, Larkins, Johnson and Sykes, the suspects were members or associates of 6 block and the shooting that took Allen\u2019s life \u201cwas motivated with the purpose to benefit, promote, and\/or further the interest of the criminal gang.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said Mango is a rapper and documented associate of the criminal gang \u201cATK.\u201d ATK is one of the rival gangs to 6 block, JSO said, and the ongoing feud between the two gangs led to the shooting death of Charles Jones<\/a>, a popular Jacksonville rapper known as \u201cFoolio,\u201d<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Jones was a prominent member of 6 block and all five of the people accused in Jones\u2019 ambush murder in Tampa<\/a> have connections to either ATK or 1200, another rival gang, according to JSO.<\/p>\n

The feud between 6 block and its rival gangs ATK and 1200 has spanned over a decade, with dozens of murders by and against both sides, JSO has said.<\/p>\n

Following the death of Jones in June 2024, investigators said Mango released a song titled \u201c6 Ways To Die\u201d<\/a> featuring another rapper who is also affiliated with ATK.<\/p>\n

MORE | <\/b>Shooting that killed 7-year-old Breon Allen connected to rap song, warring Jacksonville gangs ATK, 6 block: warrants<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

In the song, investigators said Mango \u201cdisses\u201d multiple 6 block members who have died, including Foolio, Lawrence Davis, 21,<\/a> and Adrian McKinzie, 16,<\/a> who were murdered in 2018 and 2023, respectively. There is also a reference to Julian House, who was murdered in 2023 after he reportedly left a recording studio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Investigators said cellphone location data placed the men accused in Breon\u2019s death at the scene of the shooting as well as near the scene where a black Kia, believed to be used as the getaway car, was later found. <\/p>\n

Investigators searched the black Kia, where they found a match to the spent rifle casings found at the scene.<\/p>\n

Breon\u2019s parents, Casheena Love and Breon Allen Sr., said they were surprised to learn there were six arrests made in connection with their son\u2019s murder, and they were even more surprised to learn their ages.<\/p>\n

MORE | <\/b>\u2018Keep my son\u2019s name alive\u2019: Breon Allen\u2019s mother says she\u2019s thankful to see justice after arrests made in his murder<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey all kids, haven\u2019t even experienced life yet. That\u2019s what\u2019s crazy. Who could even talk to them to want to do something like that? There is so much more to do than hanging and shooting and hurting,\u201d Love said. <\/p>\n

Watch Breon\u2019s parents\u2019 full reaction after learning of the two new arrests in the video below<\/b><\/p>\n

Waters said all the people believed to be involved in the shooting are now behind bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur agency will continue to work with our partners at the State Attorney\u2019s Office to ensure that the six arrests will be held accountable and receive the punishment that they rightfully deserve,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Two of the six people charged in the deadly shooting of Jacksonville 7-year-old Breon Allen…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,96668,3188,723,7310,8423,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-168781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-breon-allen","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jso","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115077332602405173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}