{"id":63697,"date":"2026-03-13T16:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63697"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:43:15","slug":"as-of-mid-march-2026-janard-dominic-childs-remains-at-large-and-is-the-subject-of-an-active-manhunt-by-the-lakeland-police-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/13\/as-of-mid-march-2026-janard-dominic-childs-remains-at-large-and-is-the-subject-of-an-active-manhunt-by-the-lakeland-police-department\/","title":{"rendered":"As of mid-March 2026, Janard Dominic Childs remains at large and is the subject of an active manhunt by the Lakeland Police Department"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

An arrest warrant was issued for Childs, 34, following a fatal shooting on February 22, 2026<\/strong>, outside the Jade Fox Lounge on Lakeland Highlands Road.<\/sup> He is wanted on charges of Second-Degree Murder<\/strong>, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Tampering with Physical Evidence.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incident Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Location:<\/strong> Jade Fox Lounge (3010 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Victim:<\/strong> Deandre \u201cDre\u201d Montgomery Sr., 38, who was reportedly a long-time friend of the suspect.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Event:<\/strong> Witnesses state that Childs initiated a verbal argument with Montgomery that escalated into a physical fight. Childs allegedly shot Montgomery multiple times before fleeing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Escape Vehicle:<\/strong> He was last seen fleeing the scene in a white Lincoln SUV<\/strong> that was waiting nearby.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Description and Criminal History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Childs is described as a 34-year-old Lakeland resident.<\/sup> His criminal history includes a 2022 arrest for fentanyl possession with intent to sell and a 2025 arrest for driving without a license and resisting an officer. Police have noted that the victim and suspect were well-known to each other.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    How to Provide Information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Authorities are urging anyone with information on his location to come forward. You can provide tips through the following channels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Lakeland Police Department:<\/strong> 863-834-6900<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Detective Cory Lawson:<\/strong> 863-834-8975 or Cory.Lawson@lakelandgov.net<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Heartland Crime Stoppers (Anonymous):<\/strong> 1-888-400-TIPS (8477) or dial TIPS<\/strong> from a cell phone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Anonymous tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $5,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      An arrest warrant was issued for Childs, 34, following a fatal shooting on February 22, 2026, outside the Jade Fox Lounge on Lakeland Highlands Road. He is wanted on charges… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL0NISUxEUy1KQU5BUkQud2VicD9maXQ9NDgwJTJDNjAwJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiQXMgb2YgbWlkLU1hcmNoIDIwMjYsIEphbmFyZCBEb21pbmljIENoaWxkcyByZW1haW5zIGF0IGxhcmdlIGFuZCBpcyB0aGUgc3ViamVjdCBvZiBhbiBhY3RpdmUgbWFuaHVudCBieSB0aGUgTGFrZWxhbmQgUG9saWNlIERlcGFydG1lbnQiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.GDSVhmVHqT2gpIOMkzBvnNcUjzVbOWmznw9SplM2VjQMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14057,14058],"class_list":["post-63697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-as-of-mid-march-2026","tag-janard-dominic-childs-remains-at-large-and-is-the-subject-of-an-active-manhunt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63699,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63697\/revisions\/63699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}