2 teens get life sentences for murdering Atlanta charity worker

Two teenagers were sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the August 2018 murder of an Atlanta grandmother who was shot and killed while driving home from her job at a center for homeless mothers.

Beverly Jenkins, 49, was sitting in her minivan at the intersection of Westview Drive and Hopkins Street in southwest Atlanta when 18-year-old Adarius Jones and 19-year-old Khalid Bays tried to carjack her, prosecutors said.

RELATED: Atlanta charity worker fatally shot in head while driving home

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Jenkins, who had just finished her shift at the City of Refuge, attempted to drive away when Bays fired his 9 mm handgun, striking the grandmother of four in the head.

Jenkins’ vehicle veered off the roadway and she died in the front seat as Jones and Bays fled the scene.

The following month, a woman was shot twice in the stomach after being carjacked at a gas station on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, prosecutors said. The victim survived, but a shell casing found at the scene came from the same weapon that killed Jenkins, according to prosecutors.

Bays and Jones were eventually arrested, and both teens admitted their involvement in the shootings and carjackings, authorities said.

MORE: Teen arrested, another sought in killing of Atlanta charity worker

They pleaded guilty to murder, felony murder, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, armed robbery and aggravated battery, court records show.

Jones was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole and an additional five years. Bays was also given a life sentence with the possibility of parole, but the judge tacked on an additional 15 years in his case, authorities said.