PITTSBURGH — Family and friends of a 70-year-old man brutally murdered in the Hill District gathered Monday night to mourn his death by releasing red, white and blue balloons into the sky in his honor.
“Oh, he was a beautiful man. He was a wonderful man,” said Darlene Mitchell, the fiancee of Laferrel Dee.
Dee was better known by many as “Flash”.
“I met him as Flash. I didn’t even know his real name until we got together,” said Mitchell.
>> Man in custody after deadly stabbing in the Hill District
The pair spent 11 and a half years together and were set to get married next year until police say Tyrone Taylor took Flash away from her.
Taylor is accused of stabbing and killing him inside a home on Davenport Street in the Hill District Wednesday night.
“I just want justice for him because they shouldn’t have let that man out after killing,” Mitchell said.
Court filings show Taylor was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2011 and sentenced to 7.5 to 15 years in prison.
“The people who let him out, they should have never let him out. He killed other people before,” Mitchell said.
Police say Taylor stabbed Flash several times with two long kitchen knives killing him before also stabbing a woman while the three were hanging out.
The woman is expected to survive.
Investigators say Taylor had been drinking wine and smoking crack cocaine before falling asleep and then waking up and accusing the other two of talking about him.
“I wish this was all over. I wish this was a dream,” said Kenyatta Jefferson, a friend to both Mitchell and Flash.
“This is a big loss for the whole family and for all the friends,” added Flash’s cousin, Margaret Burtch.
Mitchell says she plans to be at every court hearing for Taylor.
His next appearance is set for April 24.
He’s being held at the Allegheny County Jail on no bail.
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