Devonya Thurston was 25 when he was shot dead inside the Go Go Amigo Market at 105th Avenue and E Street in East Oakland on the afternoon of July 1, 2024. Family and friends remembered the Oakland rapper, known as 1 KTM Parkboiii, as a loving, supportive, funny and humble person; his mother described him as her rock. His sister, Alayasia Heaven Thurston, had been killed by gunfire in May 2021, and the family said that loss hit them hard.

Surveillance footage showed a tense exchange between Devonya and another man, identified as Josiah Dempsey. After Devonya briefly left the store and returned, testimony said he blocked Dempsey’s path to the exit; Dempsey then pulled an assault rifle from his pants and shot Devonya six times, killing him. The Oakland Police Department investigated and authorities later arrested Dempsey on a probable cause warrant for murder.

A judge at the preliminary hearing raised serious questions about the strength of the murder charge, and prosecutors ultimately negotiated a resolution. In December 2025 Dempsey pleaded no contest to carrying a concealed firearm, the murder charge was dropped, and he was sentenced in January 2026 to three years with credit for time served; as of that date no one had been convicted of murder in Devonya Thurston’s death.

Did anyone who knew Devonya or who was at the market that day see something that could help explain what happened?