NCIS: Hawaii writer and story editor Yakira Chambers passes away at 42 due to 'acute asphyxiation'

• NCIS: Hawaii writer and story editor Yakira Chambers has passed away at 42 years old
• Chambers' preliminary cause of death is reportedly acute asphyxiation, family sources told Deadline
• The Insecure actress was reportedly with her mother outside of a mall in Newport Beach in California last week when she collapsed
• Chambers joined NCIS: Hawaii as a staff writer before the show's first season in 2021. She wrote four episodes of the show
• NCIS Hawai'i will make a tribute to Chambers during a three-hour NCIS crossover on January 2 

NCIS: Hawaii writer and story editor Yakira Chambers has passed away at 42 years old. 

Chambers' preliminary cause of death is reportedly acute asphyxiation, family sources told Deadline. 

The Insecure actress was reportedly with her mother outside of a mall in Newport Beach in California last week when she collapsed. 

Chambers joined NCIS: Hawaii as a staff writer before the show's first season in 2021. She wrote four episodes of the show. 

She was promoted to story editor for the show's second season which premiered in late September.

NCIS Hawai'i will make a tribute to Chambers during a three-hour NCIS crossover on January 2. 

Deadline also reported that Chambers was developing several projects including a television pilot about Larry Hoover, a real life gang leader who became an author and community activist. 

Another pilot, Myseducation, is reportedly based on 'her own experiences growing up on the Southside [of Chicago] and attending a majority-white high school.' 

Chambers also has several acting credits including the Terry Crews movie John Henry, an uncredited role in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and the HBO series Insecure. 

Chambers earned a Bachelor's of Science from Southern Illinois University, and she worked as a software quality assurance manager in St. Louis for several years. 

Eventually she joined ViacomCBS' Writers Mentoring Program in 2020-2021, a program of 11 writers pulled from an applicant pool of 1,600, who work in a 16-week long workshop to learn about the television industry.   

She is survived by her husband Anthony Welch, stepson André Welch and her mother Constance Chambers. 

A statement from the family reads, 'Her sudden and untimely death has left us all grief-stricken. Yakira was a light, a symbol of hope to our community, a steward of our culture, and a representation of what pursuing your dreams looks like.' 

She continued, 'Yakira's passion extended beyond her daily work in the business; she loved helping others create a way out of no way. She believed in equity, and the demarginalization of persons of color to create a level playing field for all. 

'This passion was actualized in the form of her foundation, CureConstanceFoundation, an organization born out of the necessity for finding financial options for those in health crisis.'