Family of beloved Northwestern teen stabbed to death wants accused killer behind bars

Miami Herald

05-02-2025

Only a few days before Christmas, a teenage girl fatally stabbed another male high school student athlete while, she told police, they were 'horseplaying' late one night in the garage of his Little Haiti apartment complex.
Last week after the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner ruled it a homicide, Jahara Malik, 17, was arrested and charged as an adult in the manslaughter of Yahkeim Lollar, a beloved student and football player at Miami Northwestern Senior High. Yahkeim was also 17.
But it was a decision on Saturday by Miami-Dade family Circuit Court Judge Stacy Glick that galvanized the sides and attracted media attention, even some from abroad: Glick bucked the the state and the dead teen's family's wishes and agreed to release Jahara from jail after her family posted a $50,000 bond and she was fitted with an ankle monitor.
That led to Tuesday's hearing in a packed chamber at the criminal courthouse before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Christine Hernandez. And even as Hernandez pushed back Jahara's pre-trial detention hearing until Thursday afternoon — saying she needed to get a better grasp on Glick's decision — emotions ran high in and out of the courtroom.
Prior to her decision, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Kevin Betancourt told the judge the state's preference was that Jahara remain jailed. At his side and representing Yahkeim's family was civil rights attorney and former deputy director of the ACLU of Florida, Melba Pearson.
Across from them and representing Jahara was defense attorney Larry Handfield and Miami-Dade County Commissioner and attorney Kionne McGhee. Handfield urged the judge to allow Jahara to remain free, saying she wasn't a danger to the community or a flight risk.
Jahara and her family say the unfortunate death happened while the two were goofing around. Yahkeim's family blames his death on a jilted friend.
'She's going to jail. She's going to pay for what she did to my son because he didn't want to be with her,' Yahkeim's mother Nathalie Jean said in the hallway outside the courtroom, a large banner held up behind her by family and friends filled with mostly love notes to Yahkeim.
Moments earlier, Handfiled had pointed out how Jahara called 911 and stayed there until an ambulance arrived, then willingly gave police a statement.
'I don't believe it's in the interest of justice for her to be taken back into custody,' he said.
Fatal chest wound from 'horseplaying' says accused
Just after 11 on the Friday night before Christmas, police said, Jahara called 911 saying Yahkeim had been stabbed on the third-floor garage of his apartment complex at Northwest Sixth Court and 61st Street. Paramedics found him with a knife wound to his chest. Efforts to save him by both paramedics and doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center failed.
He was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Jahara agreed to go with police to headquarters for questioning. A few hours later, police reviewed surveillance video that showed Jahara and a friend getting out of a vehicle in the parking garage, Yahkeim bleeding from his chest and Jahara dropping a knife, police wrote in her arrest report.
Police said Jahara told them Yahkeim agreed to meet after she went shopping at Dadeland Mall with a friend. She said she grabbed the knife because she couldn't find the pepper spray she usually takes as a safety measure when using a share ride.
Police wrote in her arrest report that 'the defendant stated that she was horse playing with the victim.' Then they let her go. On Jan. 16, the medical examiner ruled Yahkeim's death a homicide and Jahara was taken into custody and transferred to the Juvenile Assessment center 12 days later.
'He was just the perferct kid'
Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Yahkeim's aunt Zeldrina Beecham, a 31-year veteran with the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, said she's seen people accused of trespassing spend more time in jail that Jahara.
'She murdered my nephew,' she said.
A junior at Miami Northwestern who was taking mostly senior courses, Yahkeim was described as sweet and sincere. He was dedicated to football and video games.
Family and friends held a memorial after his death outside Yahkeim's apartment complex. Balloons filled the air. Pictures leaned against walls. Scented candles sent light plumes of smoke toward the sky.
Low key and still visibly shaken, Yahkeim's dad Darveed Lollar spoke briefly Tuesday.
'He was just the perfect kid in my eyes,' he said.