Vernika Dunbar
Introduction
Vernika Dunbar, a 38-year-old woman from Richmond, California, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her sister, Mackayla “Kash” Paige, a 29-year-old reality TV personality, during an early-morning brawl in downtown Oakland on October 11, 2026 . Oakland police say Dunbar was trying to strike a woman who was fighting with Paige using a handgun when the weapon discharged and the shot struck Paige instead . The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges on Tuesday afternoon, October 13, and Dunbar has been in custody since the shooting .
Background Information
Paige was known to viewers as Kash, a reality personality whose credits included “Real West Coast Baddies,” “Room H8z” and “Young & Reckless,” and who was building an audience through independent unscripted shows while pursuing modeling and a makeup career . The night she died she had posted Instagram stories of herself out enjoying the evening . Officers responded to reports of gunfire at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday on the 200 block of 14th Street near Harrison Street and found Paige suffering from at least one gunshot wound; she was taken to a hospital, where she died a little after 1:35 a.m. . Authorities said Paige had addresses in Richmond and Antioch, and police arrested an adult woman from Richmond at the scene without immediately naming her .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not convicted.
According to Oakland police, the confrontation began as a fistfight between other women, and Dunbar jumped in to protect her sister . Investigators allege she drew a handgun and tried to strike the woman Paige was fighting with; in widely circulated video of the killing, a woman identified by police as Dunbar can be seen swinging the pistol several times before it goes off, and Paige falls to the ground mortally wounded . The New York Post, citing police, reported that Dunbar “fired a shot that struck her sister,” who was rushed to a hospital and later pronounced dead . Court records show the Alameda County District Attorney charged Dunbar with three felonies — involuntary manslaughter, assault with a firearm, and carrying a loaded firearm in public — plus a misdemeanor count of brandishing a gun, filed Tuesday afternoon . The Bay Area News Group reported the woman charged is Paige’s half-sister; police and the Post described her as her sister .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The shooting and the video’s spread drew wide attention to the case of a reality personality killed, allegedly by her own sister, in a street fight she had not started . Relatives and friends built a sidewalk memorial where Paige was shot, and tributes spread across the online platforms where she was known . Her cousin, Nicky Clayton, told KTVU she was still “in disbelief,” saying Paige had been “chilling” with family before the night out, adding, “I don’t know what transpired, but I know she’s supposed to be here” . A friend, Poodahh, said Paige “pushes me to be better every day” and refused to speak of her in the past tense: “She’s not gone. I can’t speak to her in the past tense” .
Current Status
Dunbar, 38, faces the involuntary manslaughter charge along with assault with a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm in public as felonies, and brandishing as a misdemeanor; she remains in custody and the case is pending . Involuntary manslaughter is far less serious than murder, but prosecutors note the charges carry enhancements that can add multiple years in prison if she is convicted as charged . No trial date or plea has been publicly reported, and the allegations remain unadjudicated; neither Dunbar nor an attorney for her has been quoted responding to the charges in the coverage reviewed .
Impact on Their Career/Life
For Dunbar, a family intervention allegedly armed with a pistol has produced three felony charges, a misdemeanor, and custody since the night of the shooting, with enhancements that could stretch any conviction by years . For Paige, a 29-year-old entertainer described by her cousin as determined “to be famous so bad” — building a modeling portfolio, planning her own business and a makeup career — the death closed a rising independent-television career at the moment she was posting about a night out . The case now sits with the Alameda County courts, where the disputed question will be whether the shot that killed Kash was the accident her family describes or a crime the manslaughter charge only partly captures .
Sources
- New York Post, “Shocking twist after reality TV star was shot dead in mass brawl in California” — source
- KTVU, “Sister of reality TV personality charged in connection to her death in Oakland” — source
- The Mercury News, “Oakland: Reality star Kash’s half-sister charged with accidentally killing her” — source
- CBS San Francisco, “Reality TV personality Kash killed in downtown Oakland shooting, woman arrested” — source