He played on Northwestern’s state championship team. Family, coach mourn his death at 24
DaMarco Keshaun Harris was 3 when his mother was stabbed to death during a Miami Gardens home invasion on Memorial Day more than 20 years ago.
Harris was raised by his grandmother and two aunts — his mother’s sisters. A quiet student, he would go on to graduate from Miami Northwestern High, where he played on the team that won the state title in 2017.
“He was a kindhearted kid,” said Northwestern Bulls coach Max Edwards.
But tragedy struck the family again in the predawn hours of Thursday morning. Harris, now 24, was shot multiple times when police found him shortly after 4 a.m. in a parking lot behind the The Sylvester cocktail bar, 3456 N. Miami Ave., across from the Shops at Midtown Miami.
He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center — the same hospital where his mother was declared dead in 2003 — and died an hour later.
An Uber driver, Harris was likely resting and waiting to receive his next fare, his aunt, Anntoinette Woods, told the Miami Herald Friday. Someone stole his car, she added.
Woods, who became one of her nephew’s mother figures after his mother was killed, said police found his 2020 gray Honda Accord in North Miami sometime later. Miami police declined to give details. His killer had not been found as of Friday afternoon.
“We are lost because of what some demon has done,” Woods said.
Mother’s death
Carmen Harris had just graduated with a criminal justice degree from Florida State University in May 2003.
She had gone out with friends to celebrate in Miami Beach over the Memorial Day weekend, and they dropped her off at her Miami Gardens home around 6 a.m. Monday, May 26.
Shortly thereafter, a man entered her home through a window and stabbed her, police records show.
She called 911 but hung up the phone before a dispatcher could answer. She called again, this time telling the dispatcher that a man she did not know had stabbed her. She was bleeding and could not feel her legs.
The killer left without stealing anything. Carmen was carried out on a stretcher and airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she died about an hour later. Her killer was never caught.
She was 24, the same age that her son was when he died.
That champion season at Northwestern
DaMarco Keshaun Harris was a shy and quiet boy, Woods said. As he grew older, he started to visit his mother’s gravesite.
“He would go there on a regular basis and spend hours and hours,” Woods said.
DaMarco Harris joined the school’s football varsity team during his junior year at Northwestern High. The 6’3’’, 210-pound teen wore the number 18 on his Bulls jersey. Woods called him a “gentle giant.”
READ MORE: Man dies after being shot several times near Midtown mall, cops say. Shooter at large
The wide receiver and tight end was an “unselfish player,” said Edwards, his coach.
Harris, then a senior, helped his team win the Class 6A state championship game in December 2017 by agreeing to switch from an offensive position to a defensive one. At the time, it was the team’s first title in 10 years.
“He was one of those kids that you wanted to have with you in all the games,” Edwards said.
Shots fired near Midtown Miami mall
Harris was driving for Uber to pay for his first car, which he had purchased with Woods’ help two years ago, she said.
“My nephew was the sweetest, most humble individual,” said Woods, an Uber driver herself. “He would not ask you for anything he needed; he would rather go and work for it.”
At 4:08 a.m. Thursday, officers rushed to the area near The Shops at Midtown Miami, 3401 N. Miami Ave., after two ShotSpotter alerts notified them that shots had been fired, said Miami police spokesman Mike Vega.
They found Harris with multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot across the street from the mall, Vega said.
A reward of up to $5,000 is offered for tips that lead to the shooter’s arrest.
To the shooter, Woods says: “You are a coward. You took an innocent person’s life away. Someone who did nothing to anyone. He lived for himself and his family.”
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Miami-Dade & the Florida Keys Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 or visit crimestoppers305.com. All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous.
