Kash’s Mother Alleges Death Threats

Kash‘s mother told TMZ her daughter received death threats, without linking them to her killing.

The reality star, whose real name was Mackayla Paige, died after an October 11 confrontation in downtown Oakland. She was 29.

Oakland police said her sister, Vernika Dunbar, tried to strike another woman with a gun during a fight involving Kash. The weapon fired and hit Kash, according to the police account described by ABC7.

Dunbar was charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault with a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm in public.

An October 14 report by The San Francisco Standard gave more detail on what Dunbar told police. She said the gun had gone off by mistake. Oakland police said Dunbar’s statement fit the surveillance video of the fight, according to the arrest report cited by the publication.

Before the gunfire, the sisters were with two other women on 14th Street, the report said. Kash then got into a fight with another woman. Dunbar got the gun from one of the two women in their group, police alleged. The arrest report described Dunbar as trying to help her sister.

Alongside the felony counts, the Standard reported a misdemeanor charge of brandishing a firearm in public. Officers found Kash wounded around 1:30 A.M. before she was taken to a hospital, where she died, according to the department’s account.

The family had already raised concerns about the attention Kash received outside her television work. Her father, Mack Paige Jr., previously described public threats while asking people to stop directing hate toward Dunbar.

He also said Kash had wanted a break from reality TV and hoped to work as a makeup artist. Her cousin, Azima King, described similar hopes in an ABC7 interview after the shooting.

“She just wanted better for her life. And she wanted to be better. And she wanted to change,” King said.

ABC7’s October 15 coverage described a memorial growing in Oakland. King spoke to the station the day after Kash died and said she was still shaking. The network behind Kash’s reality shows, Now That’s TV, also posted a tribute on October 11.