‘Shoot, Ce’ce, shoot!’ Second sister charged in fatal Columbus park shooting
A local 16-year-old’s big sister told the girl to shoot another teen during a fight March 31 at a city park, a detective testified Monday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
“Shoot, Ce’ce, shoot!” Eurica Denise Turpin was recorded on video shouting at sister Ceonna Turpin before the younger sibling opened fire in Columbus’ Primus King Park at 1321 Staunton Drive, mortally wounding Markayla Marshall and injuring two others.
Marshall, 17, was pronounced dead at 7:49 p.m. at Piedmont Columbus Regional, about 90 minutes after the shooting. Those wounded did not have life-threatening injuries, police said.
Ceonna Turpin was charged April 4 with murder and two counts of aggravated assault. During her preliminary hearing three days later, Detective Kevin Baldwin testified she and Marshall had a dispute over Marshall’s reportedly insulting Turpin’s grandmother, and met at the park to fight it out.
That’s where Marshall pepper-sprayed the sisters, and Ceonna Turpin, blinded by the spray, started shooting, Baldwin said. Police found multiple 9-millimeter shell casings at the park, but did not recover the gun, he said.
Ceonna Turpin is being held for trial in Muscogee Superior Court, after her April hearing, and now so is her sister.
After questioning witnesses and reviewing cell phone video, Columbus police also got a warrant for Eurica Turpin, 19, who was arrested Friday during a traffic stop, officers said.
Video evidence
Facing the same charges as her sister, Eurica was represented Monday by Columbus attorney Shevon Thomas II, who argued she did not join in Marshall’s slaying, and should not have been charged for merely being present.
But Baldwin testified the older sister played an active role both in setting up the fight and telling her younger sibling to pull the trigger. An earlier Facebook video posting showed Eurica Turpin, accompanied by her sister, telling Marshall to meet them or face consequences: “Meet at the park to fight it out or she’ll shoot your ass,” the detective quoted Eurica Turpin saying.
The sisters went to the park with their mother and with Eurica Turpin’s young child, Baldwin said. A video recorded there showed that when they arrived, Marshall walked over and triggered the pepper spray, he said.
“The video shows Miss Marshall using pepper spray,” the detective said. Then it recorded Eurica Turpin twice saying, “Shoot, Ce’ce, shoot!” before the gunfire begins, he said.
Ten-to-15 people gathered in the park to watch the fight, though only five or so waited to speak with police afterward, he said.
Thomas said his client could have been telling her sister to shoot in the air, to make people scatter. He asked Judge Julius Hunter to dismiss the charges.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hud countered that the video evidence shows Eurica Turpin played an active role in arranging the fight and encouraging the shooting, making her “a party to the crime” of murder under Georgia law, which says a suspect committing the offense “intentionally advises, encourages, hires, counsels, or procures another to commit the crime.”
Hunter refused to drop the case, telling Thomas a jury can decide what Eurica Turpin meant when she told her sister to shoot.
