VIRGINIA BEACH — A teenager pulled out a handgun on May 25 and opened fire into a gathering of people outside the Mount Trashmore Summer Carnival, according to court documents filed last week.
Markal Dashawn Cook, 18, “was recorded in a video taking a pistol from a concealed location and firing into a crowd,” according to a bail document filed in Virginia Beach General District Court based on information from police. “A 15-year-old girl died in the events.”
The girl, Jeyani Renee Upshur, died of a “gunshot wound of the head and neck,” the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Norfolk said Thursday. The office ruled Jeyani’s death a homicide, administrator Donna Price added.
The shooting took place at about 8:30 p.m. in a parking lot on Edwin Drive, just outside the carnival.
According to police, an 18-year-old man was also wounded by the gunfire. Cook’s mother told WTKR News3 that her son — a senior at Norfolk’s Lake Taylor High School — was that man. He was shot multiple times and was seriously injured before later being released from the hospital, his mother said.
Cook — being held without bond at the Virginia Beach City Jail after being released from the hospital — has not been charged with the girl’s slaying. Instead, he’s been charged with carrying a concealed handgun without a permit — with that count elevated to a felony because he had previously been convicted of the same charge twice.
The Virginian-Pilot asked Virginia Beach Police on Thursday how many shooters police believe there were that night. A reporter also asked which shooter’s gun is believed to have killed Jeyani, and whether any other shooters are still at large.
But a police spokesman declined to answer those questions, saying only that the case is still being investigated.
Cook declined to comment while locked up at the City Jail on Thursday. But he previously told WAVY-TV he did not have a gun at the carnival, and that he was “nothing but an innocent bystander.” He is being represented by the Virginia Beach Public Defender’s Office, but his lawyer there didn’t return a phone call Thursday.
Online court records show that this is Cook’s third charge of carrying a concealed handgun without a permit since turning 18 last June.
He was charged last July in Norfolk with trespassing, resisting arrest and carrying a concealed handgun without a permit, according to online court records.
He was convicted in August and sentenced to 12 months of unsupervised probation.
Cook was charged a second time on a concealed handgun charge about 10 days before being sentenced on the first. He was convicted in November on the second count, landing four days to serve.
Because of the prior convictions for the same offense, the most recent concealed handgun charge has been elevated to a Class 5 felony, punishable by up to 10 years behind bars. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23.
Jeyani’s family could not be immediately reached this week, and declined to comment through the Norfolk funeral home handling her services. The Virginia Beach Public Schools have said she was enrolled with the school division.
The Mount Trashmore Summer Carnival kicked off on Memorial Day weekend and runs through June 19th. Minors attending after 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
