SOUTH BEACH, Fla. – A 21-year-old man having dinner with his family and 1-year-old child was suddenly fatally shot point-blank in South Beach by a man who allegedly says he was on drugs at the time of the horrendous act.
Now, his family is grieving their unexpected and horrible loss.
Angela Wakefield, Dustin Wakefield’s stepmother, says she had helped raise Wakefield since he was 10 years old, and she is absolutely devastated.
“I don’t know how we are going to get through the next couple of years,” she says. “He and I shared the same birthday.”
“It’s in times like this where you trust that God knows best,” she added.
According to Miami Beach Police, Wakefield was gunned down on South Beach while eating dinner with his family by Tamarius Davis, who told police he was under the influence of mushrooms when he walked up to Wakefield and his family and shot and killed the 21-year-old.
Only on @WPLGLocal10 The woman who helped raised Dustin Wakefield since he was ten years old shares her emotional story with @WPLGLocal10 Dustin shot and killed on South Beach while having dinner with his family. This is Dustin with his baby this past Christmas pic.twitter.com/fVbO9NAl0Z
— Rosh Lowe (@roshlowespeaks) August 27, 2021
His stepmother loved him like her own. “He somehow had my arms. He somehow had parts of me that he shouldn’t. He wasn’t my blood, but he is my blood, and I will honor him and help his son know how great he is every day I’m alive.”
Wakefield was on vacation in Miami with his family and his one-year-old son, Eli, who his family says was Wakefield’s life.
Witnesses say Davis first pointed the gun at Eli, but he quickly protected his son and sacrificed his life.
“If he can love how Dustin loved, he will have a good life,” says the stepmother.
This family so close and tight knit, so this tragedy runs so deep.
“We will cherish his wife and son for him in a way that makes him proud,” she added.
Click here to donate to the family’s GoFundMe, if you would like to help.