MILWAUKEE – A plea deal has been reached for the two then-teens accused in the fatal shooting of a man at JJ Fish and Chicken in Milwaukee in January 2023.

Javontae Jones pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Aug. 14 to a charge of first-degree reckless homicide. By doing so, Jones avoids a trial. Jones is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 2. 

Jones was accused along with his cousin, Jeffrey Coleman in the Jan. 1, 2023 shooting at the restaurant, court filings say. Coleman pleaded guilty on Monday, Aug. 19 to first-degree reckless homicide. He is set to be sentenced on Oct. 31.

Case details

According to a criminal complaint, Milwaukee police responded to the JJ Fish and Chicken restaurant near 33rd and Villard on Jan. 1, 2023, to investigate a homicide. Investigators found the victim on the floor at the restaurant – he was pronounced deceased.

Detectives spotted numerous cartridge casings, bullets and bullet strikes in the restaurant. Outside in the parking lot, they located a deformed bullet and three cartridge casings.

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The criminal complaint indicates exterior surveillance video was recovered from the restaurant. It shows a person get out of a vehicle and walk into the restaurant. Two other persons from a second car did the same. After about a minute, all three persons are seeing running out of the restaurant, getting into cars, and fleeing the scene. One of the persons is seen firing a gun – “based upon an observed muzzle flash,” the complaint says.

Surveillance video from inside the restaurant shows a man enter the restaurant and approach the counter with a gun tucked into his waistband, the complaint says. About a minute later, the victim and another person walked into the restaurant – and seconds after that, two other persons walk into the restaurant. A gun was pulled by the first person who entered the restaurant, and he “fires” at the victim and the person he was with, the complaint says. That person then pulled a gun – and he fired toward the front door. The complaint says two people “then fire numerous gunshots toward each other.”

After this incident, detectives were made aware that multiple juvenile shooting victims were en route to the emergency department at Children’s Wisconsin. Among them was the defendant, Jones, the complaint says.

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Investigators later identified Jones via fingerprints, the complaint says. Two other persons also identified Jones from a photo array.  An officer later identified Coleman from a surveillance image of the shooting.

Chrystul Kizer, a young woman from Milwaukee, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison and five years of extended supervision for the killing of a man named Randall Volar.
Kizer, now 24, admitted to the shooting in 2018 when she was 17 years old. She had accused Volar of trafficking and raping her.

The crime and its aftermath

In June 2018, Kizer went to Volar’s house in Kenosha with a gun, BBC reported.She shot him twice in the head, then set his house on fire and took Volar’s BMW. After the killing, she posted a selfie from Volar’s house on social media with the caption “My Mug Shot.” Prosecutors said that Kizer planned the actions to steal the car, while Kizer’s defence argued that she acted in self-defence due to years of abuse.

Legal and public reaction

Kizer’s case drew significant media attention and sparked debate over how the law treats victims of sex trafficking. She had met Volar when she was 16 and claimed he sexually assaulted her, gave her money and gifts, and trafficked her to other men.
Evidence later revealed that Volar had abused multiple underage girls. Despite this, he was released by police before his death.
In court, Kizer’s lawyers argued that she should be protected under a 2008 Wisconsin law that shields trafficking victims from certain charges if their crimes were directly related to their trafficking. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that this protection could extend to homicide cases, allowing Kizer to present evidence of her abuse.

Outcome and future

Kizer accepted a plea deal this year to avoid a life sentence. She will serve 11 years in prison followed by five years of extended supervision. Her case continues to be a point of discussion regarding the legal treatment of trafficking victims and the extent of legal protections available to them.
Kizer, who has already served over a year and a half, is scheduled for a restitution hearing on November 8.

MILWAUKEE – Although the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) is being held in Chicago, Milwaukee will take center stage this week. That is where the Harris-Walz campaign will be holding a rally on Tuesday night, Aug. 20. 

One month after former President Donald Trump was inside Fiserv Forum for the Republican National Convention (RNC), the arena will once again welcome a presidential candidate. On Tuesday, people will be filing into Fiserv Forum to see Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

On Monday afternoon, Fiserv Forum crews prepped for the crowds expected to attend the rally. A group of Democrats gathered outside the arena doing their own preparations. 

The vice president’s Tuesday night visit will land on the second day of the DNC in Chicago, putting Wisconsin in the spotlight once again. 

“Because this is where the action is,” said UW-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus Mordecai Lee.

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Both Harris and Walz are expected to speak at the rally. The campaign has yet to release official times for their speeches. 

Attendees will be able to watch former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s speeches live from Chicago together in the arena following the rally program. 

One month ago

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, accepted the Republican nomination inside Fiserv Forum in July. 

During that event, security was tight. When asked about the vice president’s visit to Milwaukee, a Secret Service spokesperson said the following: 

“The U.S. Secret Service works closely with our local law enforcement partners to maintain a robust security posture, while minimizing disruptions to the public.”

“Residents and visitors in or around downtown Milwaukee should expect intermittent road closures and parking restrictions as part of the visit.”

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“The logic of campaigning is you try to maximize contact with those voters who can determine the election,” Lee said. “This is really, in a sense, great because Wisconsinites get more opportunities to see and hear the four candidates.”

Register for Harris-Walz event

The doors at Fiserv Forum open at 4 p.m. Tuesday. People can register for the event through the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.