@dazhariaa/Instagram
- TikTok creator Dazharia Shaffer died by suicide at 18 years old, an official confirmed to Insider.
- Shaffer had a growing social-media following with 1.7 million followers on TikTok.
- Shaffer’s father wrote about Shaffer’s mental health on a GoFundMe page.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Dazharia Shaffer, a TikTok creator with 1.7 million followers on the video platform, has died at 18 years old.
Shaffer, who went by Dee on TikTok with the username “dazhariaa,” died by suicide on Tuesday, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office confirmed to Insider. People first reported the news of Shaffer’s death.
The teen from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was an up-and-coming influencer with growing followings on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. She posted her last TikTok, a dance video, on Monday.
Shaffer's father, Raheem Allah, confirmed her death on his own TikTok page Wednesday.
"I just want to thank everyone for their love and support of my daughter. Unfortunately she is no longer with us and has gone to a better place," he wrote. Allah did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment.
On his TikTok profile, Allah promoted a GoFundMe page to support the family. The GoFundMe was organized by Rodney Andry, who appears to be a friend or relative of the family. The memorial fundraiser has raised $6,935 as of Friday morning. Andry did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In a note on the fundraiser, Allah said Shaffer was his "little best friend" and referenced his daughter's mental health.
"She was so happy," the message said. "I only wish she would have spoken to me about her stress and the thoughts of suicide. We could work thru this."
Allah continued, "I only want to hold you again my little jelly bean. Now I come home and your no longer gonna be there waiting for me. I have to let you fly with the angels."
The comments section on Shaffer's last Instagram post, which she posted on January 23, was full of fans mourning the young star in the days after her death, with comments like "we lost an angel" and "this is heartbreaking."
Shaffer's TikTok gained 200,000 followers on Wednesday and Thursday after the news of her death broke, according to data from SocialBlade, a social-media analytics website. The sudden gain follows a trend of social-media users following the accounts of people with high-profile deaths, including the murder of Houston influencer Alexis Sharkey.
