Malaki Beady, a 17-year-old African American male from York, Pennsylvania, was killed on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in a daytime shooting at Penn Park, just steps from William Penn Senior High School. The shooting happened around 11 a.m. near the area of College Avenue, South Cherry Lane, Kings Mill Road, and South Pershing Avenue, close enough to the school that students were kept inside until police determined it was safe for dismissal.
First responders arrived to find Malaki fatally wounded in the park, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. The York County Coroner’s Office ruled his death a homicide after an autopsy determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Malaki was a student in the City of York School District and attended William Penn Senior High School. His obituary said he was born in York and had gone through the city school system, including McKinley Elementary School, before continuing at William Penn. Those who knew him described a young person connected to music, someone who liked listening to it, playing it, and rapping in the studio. His death struck the school community immediately, with the district acknowledging that one of its students had been killed in an off-campus incident near school grounds. William Penn Senior High School and McKinley K-8 moved to virtual learning the following day, and counseling services were made available for students.
Witness accounts described the shooting as sudden and frightening. One nearby witness reported hearing multiple gunshots, taking cover, and then hearing screaming and yelling. Students were released from school not long afterward, and groups of young people gathered near the scene as police and emergency crews worked in and around Penn Park. The violence unfolded in the middle of the day, near a school, leaving classmates, neighbors, and city officials facing the loss of a teenager in a public place where young people were regularly present.
Police identified Javion Roman, also 17 at the time, as the suspect. Roman was accused of shooting Malaki in Penn Park and turned himself in to York City Police headquarters on Friday evening, March 25, 2022, two days after the killing. Authorities charged him as an adult with criminal homicide. Early reports stated that no motive had been released, and police continued asking for information while the case moved forward through the courts.
The case later resulted in a conviction. In October 2024, Javion Roman, then 19, was found guilty of first-degree murder and other related offenses in Malaki’s death. Reports said Roman and Malaki were both students at William Penn Senior High School, located across the street from the park where the shooting occurred. Roman had been held without bail in York County Prison after his arrest. At the time of the reported conviction, sentencing details were not available in the sources reviewed.
