Last week, Tyejuan Harkum was shot after leaving a barbershop on Naylor Road SE. His family has been searching for answers after he died, leaving behind his 3-year-old daughter. News4’s Dominique Moody spoke to his mom and aunt about navigating his absence.
A D.C. mother is searching for answers after her 24-year-old son, Tyejuan Harkum, was shot and killed on Naylor Road Southeast in the first week of December.
Harkum was shot after leaving a barbershop last Wednesday, leaving behind his 3-year-old daughter. He is D.C.’s 254th homicide victim this year.
All that his family can lean on now is old pictures and videos of Tyejuan, as they navigate the pain of his absence.
“Can’t close my eyes, can’t get no sleep, every time I close my eyes, I just picture my son laying on a silver metal bed with the sheet pulled all the way up to his chest and just his face,” Chariece Harkum, Tyejuan's mother, said.
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D.C. police said that after Tyejuan was shot, he later died at the hospital. Chariece doesn't know why he was murdered and wants answers.
“I’ve gotten no answers, I don’t know what’s going on with my son's case,” Chariece said. “All I want is justice for my son.”
The loss has been tough on the whole family, especially his young daughter.
“How do you tell a 3-year-old baby that adores her father that he’s no longer around?” Dawn Harkum, Tyejuan’s aunt, said. “It not only affects Tyejuan’s mom or his brothers. It’s all his friends [and] everyone that taught him.”
Chariece said “D.C. is at war, “ and added that the District isn’t helping the community.
“It’s senseless. It doesn’t make sense, that these kids out here killing each other,” Dawn said.
While Tyejuan might be the district’s 254th homicide victim, his family says that he’s much more than a number and, like other families, wants to see change.
