John Jefferson
Jahara Malik (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation).
A 17-year-old Florida girl is behind bars after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend to death just days before Christmas while they were allegedly “horseplaying” with a knife in a parking garage.
Court records show Jahara Malik is facing a charge of manslaughter with a deadly weapon in the Dec. 20 death of 17-year-old Yahkeim Lollar in Miami. She’s at the Miami-Dade County jail on a $50,000 bond. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by local ABC affiliate WPLG, Miami police responded to a report of a stabbing in the parking garage at Lollar’s apartment complex in the 6100 block of Northwest Sixth Court. Paramedics rushed him to a hospital where he died.
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Per the affidavit, Malik was set to go shopping with a friend on the day in question. Before she left, she was looking for the pepper spray she typically used for protection but could not find it so she grabbed a knife instead, the affidavit reportedly said. After shopping she went to meet with Lollar in the parking garage. The two were “horseplaying” and she somehow ended up stabbing him in the chest.
Surveillance video allegedly shows Malik dropping the knife in the parking garage. A portion of Malik’s statement to police was reportedly redacted from the affidavit. A medical examiner deemed the death a homicide a few weeks later.
At a bond hearing, her attorney noted that Malik stayed behind to render aid after the stabbing. Malik has not been arrested before this incident, the lawyer said. The attorney told CBS affiliate WFOR that the stabbing was not intentional. NBC affiliate WTVJ reports that Malik will be tried as an adult.
The victim’s father, Darveed Lollar, said the stabbing didn’t have to happen.
“By somebody just playing, they took my boy’s life,” he told WPLG. “That’s what they said. They was playing.”
The family has been frustrated that it took so long to put Malik behind bars, despite knowing she was the one responsible for the homicide.
“They couldn’t find something to charge her with the night of when there was no question as to what happened or who done this, so I mean it’s, right now, it’s a little bittersweet,” his mother Darveed Lollar said.
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