MIAMI – Yahkeim Lollar wanted to become a stockbroker and was working to graduate from Miami Northwestern Senior High School, where he had been a running back for the football team. His family’s Christmas celebrations were just a few days away, but instead of wrapping gifts and baking cookies, they were planning his funeral.
There was a memorial on Sunday. Zeldrina Beecham, a Miami-Dade police officer, was heartbroken. She was wearing her uniform when she said her nephew Yahkeim died at 17 after his girlfriend stabbed him on Friday just outside of the apartment where he lived in Miami.
“He made good grades. He wasn’t out in the streets. He was just a homebody who wanted to stay in his room and play video games — we taught him that,” Beecham said.
Beecham said she and her grieving family were still trying to understand what preceded the tragedy. According to Kiara Delva, a spokeswoman for the Miami Police Department, the stabbing was near Northwest Sixth Court and 61 Street in the Model City neighborhood and he died at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.
Beecham described Yakheim as “the type of kid who always wanted to have fun with his family.
“We taught him to stay out of the streets and keep his head on right and he did exactly that and still this happened,” Beecham said.
While Miami homicide detectives were investigating the stabbing, dozens joined Beecham and her family in their grief. The balloons were green, his favorite color. Mourners also brought white candles and played music to honor him.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Grace Ortega and Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.