Teen charged with murder in July 2021 shooting in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Police said a teen has been charged with first degree murder in connection to a shooting incident in Cedar Rapids last year that resulted in the death of 15-year-old Tyliyah Whitis.

Police responded to a report of a crash on the morning of July 20, 2021. They said the Whitis, of Peoria, Illinois, was found dead in the driver’s seat of a vehicle that had crashed at the Hawthorne Hills Apartment Complex, in the 2200 block of C Street SW.

The Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner ruled the official cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the chest, and the manner of death, a homicide.

After their investigation, police said they arrested 19-year-old Marshawn Jackson. He faces charges of first degree murder, intimidation with a weapon, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Jackson was already in custody at the Linn County Jail on unrelated charges when the arrest warrants were served.

Friends and family held a vigil to remember the victim.