TikTok star Swavy dies at 19 in shooting

Ed Barnes

Matima Miller, known as Swavy and Babyface.S on TikTok, has reportedly died on July 5. The news was confirmed by his friend and YouTuber Damaury Mikula who posted about the incident on social media.

Mikula described the death as “so f**king dumb” and said that Swavy had “got shot”.

Miller was 19 years old and had 2.3 million followers on TikTok. He was also big on Instagram with over 350,000 followers on the platform.

Miller would regularly post videos of him doing dance routines to songs in public spaces like shopping malls.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Mikula announced the news.

TikToker Swavy killed in shooting

He said: “Rest up brother. I just want to tell you what happened and everything, you might not know.

“My homeboy named Swavy died… I’m not going to tell his real name on here… but yeah man…he got shot.”

He continued, “All he did was make vids… he’s real as hell. Real, real. As soon as we [saw] each other bro, we was locked in straight like that… he keeps everything real.”

Mikula also talked about the effect it had had on him. He said that “to see him get taken out, just like, it makes no sense. It makes no sense.”

Swavy posing in a post on his Instagram.

On Instagram, Mikula also made a post to commemorate his friend. It said:

“This s**t so unreal 😢 I love you n**** I swear imma go so hard with this social media shii for you I’m never letting up I know you resting in heaven fam 🖤 you was one of the realest n***** I came across from the jump, love you bro 🖤‼️ LONG LIVE SWAVY 🕊🖤  ”

Wilmington Police confirmed the identity of the victim in a statement on July 6.

“The victim in this incident has been identified as Matima Miller. This incident remains under investigation and further details will be released when possible.”

Tributes poured in for Swavy across social media

After the news broke, many fans went to social media to mourn the death of the TikTok star.

Some fans created compilations of Babyface.S’s videos to celebrate their life.

Others posted their favorite TikToks by the dancer.

Many fans also went to Twitter to mourn the passing of the TikTok influencer.

Wilmington has seen 82 shootings so far this year with 16 fatal. This is an increase on the previous year where there were 73 people shot, 11 fatally during the same period.

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About The Author

Ed is a former writer for Dexerto based in England who covered entertainment, influencer news, and trends. Ed was previously the editor at The Gryphon, the student newspaper at the University of Leeds, as well as the current Social Media Editor for the Indiependent with articles in several publications.