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A 38-year-old Lakeland man was shot and killed early Sunday morning outside the Jade Fox Lounge as patrons were leaving at closing time — the second fatal shooting there in less than three years.
Lakeland Police said Deandre “Dre” Montgomery Sr. was shot shortly after 2 a.m. on Feb. 22, 2026 outside the nightclub at 3010 Lakeland Highlands Road. Officers found him on the ground and transported him to Lakeland Regional Health, where he later died despite lifesaving efforts.
In the hours after the shooting, friends and family flooded social media with tributes to Montgomery, describing a devoted father and hardworking entrepreneur.
Montgomery, a 2006 graduate of McKeel Academy of Technology, owned Black Bag Auto Spa, a mobile detailing business that friends said was profitable and growing. He leaves behind a 14-year-old son and a 4½-year-old daughter.
Police have not released the suspect’s name, but detectives believe the victim and the suspect were known to one another, Lakeland Police spokeswoman Stephanie Kerr said.
A longtime friendship turned deadly?
Friends say the shooter and Montgomery had known each other since they were teenagers. In recent years, Montgomery had tried to help him, they said — accepting his jail calls twice a day between late 2022 and 2024, giving him a place to stay after his release, and offering occasional detailing work.
MarChina Latrese Smith, who met Montgomery in high school and considered him a brother, said, “He had one of the biggest hearts like ever, which just turned out to be a downfall for him.”
Several friends wrote social media messages directly to the person they believe is responsible, expressing disbelief that someone Montgomery had helped could be involved in his death.
“He looked out for you. He tried to give you the rope to come up. How you kill your homie?” one friend wrote on Facebook.
Another posted: “It’s bad enough we have children who[se] parents don’t care, but you purposely took Dre Montgomery Sr. away from his children???”
Montgomery did a two-year stint in prison from 2008 to 2010, and had some arrests after. But friends said he had been working to turn his life around, focusing on his children and growing his businesses.
Montgomery was one of the first guests on Smith’s podcast Chat with China in an episode titled “Living Life or Locked Up For Life.”
Pattern of late-night violence
The shooting happened just after 2 a.m., as the club was closing. City ordinances require businesses that serve alcohol to close by 2 a.m., meaning large crowds often exit at the same time.
It is the second fatal shooting outside Jade Fox in 31 months. In July 2023, 25-year-old Lakeland rapper Raheem “350Heem” Bacon was fatally shot outside the same club around 2 a.m.; another woman was critically injured. Prosecutors later declined to charge the shooter with murder, determining the shooting was in self-defense after Bacon fired first.
Two months earlier, in May 2023, a man was injured in a 2:20 a.m. shooting in the parking lot of the former Searstown shopping plaza. That shooting was not fatal.
Lakeland Police spokeswoman Stephanie Kerr said officers spent all day Sunday processing the scene and interviewing people.
Despite the high-profile homicides, Lakeland’s murder rate is typically very low, with an average of six homicides a year since 2019.
Anyone with information about the shooting or the suspect’s whereabouts is asked to contact Detective Cory Lawson at 863-834-8975 or Cory.Lawson@lakelandgov.net.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct information about the victim’s legal history.
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Two killings now? Revoke the liquor license.