On the evening of May 25, 2024, 15-year-old Jeyani Renee Upshur was struck by a stray bullet outside the Mt. Trashmore carnival in Virginia Beach just before 8:30 p.m. She was a student at Kempsville High School and remembered at a candlelight vigil where friends, family, and community members wore her favorite colors, green and purple. The shooting reportedly began after a fight broke out between two groups; surveillance and cell phone footage are said to show a person pulling a gun and firing into the crowd, after which Jeyani fell.

Virginia Beach police identified 19-year-old Markal Cook as a suspect. Prosecutors allege video shows him retrieving a pistol from a concealed location and firing the shots, and they filed charges including second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon. Cook was also shot and injured during the incident. He has pleaded not guilty, maintained he was an innocent bystander, and his defense disputes that he fired a gun. The trial was delayed for a juror-notification issue and awaits a new date.

Does anyone have information about the events outside the carnival that night or about people who were present at Mt. Trashmore?