‘You can’t replace a Malik’: Family, friends remember life of semi-pro football player killed in Granby Street shooting

Football was a family affair for Devon Harris. His brothers played, along with their father and uncles.

Besides, the boy from Portsmouth needed an outlet for his anger, according to a story from his high school days. His mother died when he was 9 and his father was incarcerated by the time Harris was in high school.

So he learned how to hit, and became a 5-foot-9 middle linebacker that you didn’t want to face.

“Ever since middle school, he was a great tackler,” said Markus Turner, one of Harris’ coaches at Woodrow Wilson High School, now named Manor High. “People knew going against him you were going to have to bring your lunch because it was going to be a long day.”

Devon Harris, who went by his middle name Malik, played his last football game a couple weeks ago, for the semi-professional Virginia Beach Rhinos. The 25-year-old was one of two people killed in a shooting last weekend outside Chicho’s Pizza Backstage on Norfolk’s Granby Street. The other was Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press reporter Sierra Jenkins.

The details of how the fatal night unfolded are still unclear. Police have said they don’t have security footage of the shooting. And no suspects have been identified.

Shots were fired just before 2 a.m., shortly after staff announced last call at Chicho’s.

Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone said it all happened after an argument over a spilled drink. The manager at Chicho’s has said the altercation took place entirely outside, on the sidewalk.

Harris’ brother, Calvin Harris, said he’s heard rumors, but he still doesn’t know what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.

“A spilled drink?” he said. “That seems a little loose. I know the world is crazy, but it isn’t that crazy.”

Calvin didn’t want to talk about who his brother was with that night, saying he preferred to focus on Malik. He and others close to Malik have channeled much of their energy into remembering the Portsmouth man’s life and legacy.

“If there is one word that we could use to sum up Devon Malik Harris, it’s impactful,” Turner said. “I would repeat that 1,000 times. Even in his death, he’s impacting people.”

In high school, Malik was an honor student and the football team’s captain.

Two of his former coaches and his brother say Malik was quiet — he preferred to lead by example.

“I don’t want to be cliché — we too often say that this is a good kid and he didn’t bother anybody,” Turner said. “To understand who Malik was ... is that Malik always was very concerned about everybody else.”

Malik paid attention to everyone from his teammates to the coaches and cheerleaders to make sure they were OK. He would offer support on a bad day.

His high school head football coach, Ronnie Ratliff Jr., said Malik was a natural leader who “knew how to avoid the pitfalls of life.”

With his mother gone and his father living on the West Coast after prison, Malik’s brother, Calvin — about 5½ years older — took custody of Malik when he was a sophomore.

Despite the challenges in Malik’s own life, Ratliff said teammates knew they could count on him for help.

“He was a joy to coach — respectful and a hard-working athlete,” Ratliff said. “If I was still coaching, I would have asked him to join my staff.”

Malik played football at Methodist University, a Division III college in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A 2016 roster on Methodist’s website listed him as a 5-foot-9, 190-pound freshman linebacker.

But he quit the team and decided to return to Hampton Roads after a concussion, Calvin said. He bounced around a couple of two-year colleges where he studied criminal justice, but never graduated.

He didn’t want to be on the frontlines of police work, but Malik had expressed an interest in one day working as a forensic scientist or a criminal profiler. He was inspired, in part, by “Criminal Minds,” one of his favorite TV shows, Calvin said.

Malik was working security at Top Golf and playing football for the Rhinos with Calvin when he died. The pair also volunteered as youth football coaches.

“He would give you the shirt off his back, and if he had to walk home with no shoes, he would because that was just the kind of personality we were dealing with,” Turner said.

Malik had three younger brothers. He’d earned his welding certificate and liked to cook.

Despite of his quiet demeanor, Malik liked to have a good time, Calvin said. He enjoyed going to parties and bars and could be a bit of a risk-taker.

Calvin chuckled a bit as he described a photo Malik had taken standing on top of his car inside a tunnel. Malik had taken the photo hoping to start the next viral internet challenge.

“I just want everyone that knew him to know he’s happy now,” Calvin said. “He’s with his mama, his best friend and his granddaddy.”

“Be happy, throw a party, go have a drink in the house,” to celebrate Malik’s life, Calvin said, before wryly adding, “because obviously, you can’t go to the bar.”

Turner now coaches the Williamsburg Colonials semi-pro football team. He just coached against the Rhinos a couple weeks ago and said his players were heckling him because he continually hugged and encouraged Malik throughout the game. He couldn’t help it though, he said — he’s been cheering Malik on for nearly half his life.

Word of Malik’s death has brought men to tears, Turner said. All too often, shootings happen, the community comes together for a vigil before going their separate ways, but “it won’t happen like that for Malik,” he said.

“It almost feels like the kid is still alive. ... He was so impactful and energetic and he cared for you so much that you can still feel his spirit here.”

Calvin says he’s hoping for answers from the night Malik was killed. He says the closure would be for more than just him — he knows there were people who witnessed the shooting that night and are still reeling.

Turner says he hopes the tragedy will be the nudge the community needs to step up and prevent “another Malik Harris story.”

In times like these, people often call for community centers or look to law enforcement, but Turner said that’s not enough. He wants more community leaders and role models who can help young people foster passions for activities such as sports, art and music.

He also hopes people will be more involved in local government and with local businesses to see what can be done to stop the violence.

“You can’t replace a Malik,” Turner said. “Malik is one of those people who can never be replaced.”

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com