Just minutes before the noontime funeral for 18-year-old Tahliek J. Taliaferro began yesterday, one of three suspects in his slaying was denied bond.

While his teary-eyed mother and father looked on, Joseph Parrish -- clad in a blue jumpsuit and shackled at the waist -- registered no emotion as Powhatan County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert B. Beasley Jr. told the court that Parrish is believed to be the shooter in the case.

Parrish, 17, may have taunted Taliaferro before the young football star died and a friend was wounded, Beasley told Judge Valentine Southall in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

Two other suspects will make their first appearances in court tomorrow.

They are Ethan Scott Parrish, 24, of the 100 block of Carter Road in Cumberland County, and Stephanie C. Reynolds, 19, of the 2600 block of Mountain View Road in Powhatan.

All three face the same murder and malicious-wounding charges and a firearms charge.

Shot to death on a hot summer night last week after an altercation erupted at an ice-cream stand at Flat Rock, Taliaferro was laid to rest at Little Zion Baptist Church cemetery with his No. 17 football jersey folded by his side. More than 1,500 mourners, many of them falling to the floor with emotion, attended his funeral.

Beasley told the court, which was meeting in Amelia County, that Joseph Parrish will be tried as an adult.

He identified him as the shooter in a late-night confrontation that not only killed Taliaferro but wounded Courtney Jones. Jones is recovering, according to friends.

Yesterday evening, however, Beasley said that the investigation into the incident is continuing -- including into details of Joseph Parrish's role. He declined to be more specific.

Friends of Taliaferro have said in recent days that a longstanding antagonism that centered on a female student had been smoldering for months between Joseph Parrish and Taliaferro, who outweighed Parrish by about 50 pounds.

"Everyone just looked at it as another school fight. But there were people that were trying to prevent it," said Josh Robinson, a rising senior at Powhatan High School.

Beasley refused to discuss any details of the investigation.

A search warrant filed in Powhatan Circuit Court states that Joseph Parrish, his cousin Ethan and two unnamed females drove into the lot of an ice-cream store near the Sheetz gas station at Flat Rock last Tuesday night.

Taliaferro and at least three other friends were there and had been playing basketball, according to the search warrant.

"Joey began yelling at them across the parking lot and after a few minutes they began to leave. Joey told them to follow him if they wanted to take care of business," the search warrant states.

Taliaferro and at least three other males got into a car and drove down Dorset Street until they came upon the car matching the one Parrish was in.

"As [they] slowed behind the [Parrish] car, a white male occupant pulled out an assault rifle and began firing at them," the search warrant states.

Officers responded to a spot several blocks away, where they found Taliaferro, who was dead, and Jones inside the car.

The warrant also states that authorities later recovered three weapons from a well in Amelia, where the car Parrish had been in was found. "These weapons were also described by two female witnesses who were in the vehicle with Joey and Ethan minutes before the shooting," according to the search warrant.

At yesterday's funeral, mourners gathered to celebrate Taliaferro's life at Powhatan High School, the rural county's largest building and the place where Taliaferro gained a reputation as a fierce linebacker on the football team.

They overflowed a 1,000-seat auditorium and filled a large adjacent dining hall for the funeral.

"It wasn't all football and all sports," said football coach Jim Woodson after the two-hour service. "What was important to Tahliek was his friends. But he loved football, loved competition. He liked being out there winning or losing. I used to think he hardly paid attention to the score.

"What everyone will remember is his smile."
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com.

Staff writer Penelope Carrington contributed to this report.