Nukeria Harris

Nukeria Harris, a 19-year-old Black woman known to her loved ones as "Keria," was a daughter and sister whose life was violently cut short in a place she should have been safest: her own home. She lived in the South Miami-Dade area of Florida with her mother, Takeeya "KeKe" Fulton, and her siblings. Her mother, a 39-year-old school bus driver and graduate of SouthRidge High School, was described by those who knew her as a devoted and hard-working mother to her six children. Nukeria was part of a large, close-knit family that was shattered by an act of devastating violence.

The tragedy unfolded in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, July 31, 2016. Inside the family’s home near Southwest 115th Avenue and 203rd Terrace, an argument broke out between Takeeya Fulton and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Antwon Lamar Fair. Fair was the father of three of Fulton’s younger children. At approximately 3:47 a.m., the dispute escalated horrifically when Fair allegedly opened fire on the family as they were sleeping. When Miami-Dade Police officers responded to the scene, they discovered a nightmarish scene. Nukeria Harris and her mother were found deceased inside the home, both having been fatally shot.

Two of Nukeria’s brothers were also struck by the gunfire. Her 17-year-old brother, Corey "C.J." Johnson, was found alive but critically wounded. He was airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center, where he tragically succumbed to his injuries later that day. A 12-year-old brother was also shot, sustaining two gunshot wounds to his chest, but he survived and was hospitalized in stable condition. Three of Fulton’s other children, who were also in the house at the time of the shooting, were not physically harmed. The brutal attack claimed three lives and left a young boy severely injured, forever altering the lives of the surviving children.

The Miami-Dade Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation and identified Antwon Fair as the sole suspect. Authorities warned that Fair should be considered armed and dangerous and released his description, along with details of the white 2009 Chevrolet Impala he was believed to be driving. Family members, reeling from the shock and grief, gathered at the scene. One relative, Gus Lanier, emotionally pleaded for justice, saying, "I love my family, man. I love my peoples, man! I can't see my peoples no more!" Another relative described the children's love for Fair, making the betrayal all the more incomprehensible.

A manhunt for Antwon Fair began, and detectives located his abandoned vehicle in Miami the following day. The search concluded on Wednesday, August 3, 2016, when Fair was located and arrested without incident in Savannah, Georgia. The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police, in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, took him into custody. Authorities in Georgia began working with Miami-Dade investigators to arrange for Fair's extradition back to Florida to face charges for the triple homicide.

In the wake of the tragedy, the community mourned with the surviving family members. A GoFundMe campaign was established to help with funeral expenses and support the children left behind. A judge granted a relative custody of the four surviving children and ordered that they receive emergency grief therapy to help them cope with the immense trauma of losing their mother and two siblings. While Antwon Fair was arrested and expected to face murder charges, the final disposition of the legal case against him is not publicly available in news reports after his initial arrest and extradition in August 2016. The case remains a painful memory of a morning that destroyed a family.