Kash’s Sister Charged With Manslaughter In Fatal Oakland Shooting
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Kash‘s sister faces an involuntary manslaughter charge in the Oakland shooting that killed the 29-year-old reality TV star.
Vernika Dunbar, 38, also faces assault with a firearm and gun violations. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges, KTVU reported, citing Oakland police.
Police said Kash, whose real name was Mackayla Paige, was fighting with another woman when Dunbar tried to hit that woman with a gun. Instead, police said, Dunbar fired the shot that killed her sister.
Authorities hadn’t said what led to the fight.
The case grew out of a shooting near 14th and Harrison streets early Sunday, October 11. Officers arrived around 1:30 A.M. and tried to save Kash, who died after she was taken to a hospital.
Police first announced that they had arrested a woman from Richmond, but did not name her in the initial reports.
Before the charges became public, Kash’s cousin Azima King spoke about the loss and the people around her that night. In a separate NBC Bay Area interview published Monday, King said Kash should have been able to return home safely.
“Unfortunately she was with the people she felt the safest with, and she was supposed to be alright,” King said. “She was supposed to make it home.”
King also pushed back against claims about her cousin online. She said those accounts didn’t reflect who Kash was and urged people to look beyond the fight footage.
Kash had worked as a model and hoped to act, King said, while also helping others push toward their goals. King wanted people to remember her cousin’s hopes, work and drive, rather than the video of her final moments.
Her death also drew a tribute from Now That’s TV, the streaming network where she appeared on shows including “YNR.” Its Sunday statement named Kash and sent condolences to her relatives, friends and castmates. Loved ones also built a memorial near the scene of the shooting.
“Though her time with us was far too short, her memory will live on,” the network wrote.
