On the evening of March 31, 2022, 17-year-old Markayla Kalleah Marshall was shot and killed at Primus King Park in Columbus, Georgia. The incident began as a reported dispute between teenagers and ended when gunfire erupted about 6:45 p.m.; Markayla was struck by multiple bullets while with her younger sister, taken to Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital, and pronounced dead just over an hour later. Two other people, including Markayla’s sister, sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigators focused on two sisters, Ceonna and Eurica Turpin. Ceonna, 16 at the time, surrendered four days after the shooting; Eurica was arrested several weeks later after a traffic stop. Initial charges included murder and aggravated assault; prosecutors later charged both with malice and felony murder. Reports say the confrontation related to a dispute over a boy and that Markayla had used pepper spray on Ceonna just before the shooting.

The sisters’ defense sought immunity on self-defense grounds but the judge denied the motion. Both later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault and received lengthy prison terms. The judge rejected a request to clear their records after sentence completion, noting the severity of the loss.