For those who knew Devontae Fleurimar, the 17-year-old was the boy with the unforgettable laugh; the student who could make his former principal joke about girls fighting over him; and the basketball player who had people imagining just how far his talent could take him.
Royalty Preparatory School, where Devontae was a 12th-grade student, remembered him simply: “We remember the laughter, the jokes and all the special moments we shared. He will be deeply missed and forever remembered.”
For his mother, Zoe Chyna, the pain is made even harder by how close her son was to reaching a milestone they had dreamed about together.
She imagined herself watching him walk across the stage, finally able to celebrate the young man he had become.
She remembered joking with him about how tall he was and looking forward to telling herself that she had done it, that she had gotten her son to that moment.
Now, instead of preparing to celebrate his graduation, she is preparing to bury him.
“God you could’ve done anything else and I would’ve been okay, my baby birthday in couple days yo,” she wrote after learning of his death.
“That boy was my heart, so this isn’t easy at all.”
Devontae died Sunday after reportedly encountering difficulties while swimming with three other teens in waters near South Sea Estates off Bacardi Road.
Police said they received information around 4:30 p.m. that a male had gone missing while swimming in a canal behind the community.
Matheo Smith remembers him from his own days as a principal, when Devontae was still in junior school.
Because of his distinctive surname, Smith said he rarely called him Devontae. He called him “Fleurimar.”
And he remembers a young man who was respectful, funny and full of personality.
Smith recalled teasing him about the attention he received from girls at school.
“Fleurimar, why you come to my school causing problems and having all these girls fighting over you?”
Devontae’s response would always come with that laugh: “Dr. Smith, it ain’t me man, it’s them.”
Those are the moments Smith says remain with him now.
Smith also remembers Devontae’s love for basketball. He believed the young player had something special.
“This is our next NBA star,” he would tell him.
But beyond the talent, Smith admired Devontae’s determination. He described a young man who could fall down and get back up — someone who kept pushing regardless of what came his way.
That is how he wants him remembered: Young, respectful, talented, driven and full of potential.
Those who knew Zoe Chyna say it was impossible to miss how much Devontae meant to her.
Friend Tatyana Petit remembered asking about her son and watching Zoe’s entire face light up as she spoke about him.
“She told me he was about to graduate,” Petit recalled.
She could hear the pride in the way Devontae’s mother spoke about her son.
Friend Shyquelle Chiann also remembered that bond, describing Zoe’s children as her “whole world.”
“When one mother cries, we all cry,” she wrote, offering prayers and comfort to the family.
Another friend, Shekeva Farquharson, remembered Devontae as “the sweetest young man ever from a child.”