PIUTE COUNTY, Utah — A 17-year-old boy was taken into custody and charged with aggravated murder after a 16-year-old girl was found shot to death near a dirt road in southern Utah.
The Piute County Sheriff's Office said they responded to a call that shots had been fired on Doc Springs Road, which is about four miles north of Circleville, just before 10 p.m. on Sunday night.
At 10:12 p.m., Piute County Sheriff Marty Gleave located the 16-year-old girl who was fatally shot near a dirt road.
“I’ve heard lots of people say things like, ‘This doesn’t happen here. We feel so safe here,’” said Piute County School District Superintendent Koby Willis. “It makes you question how safe you are.”
Officials tried to locate a blue Ford Ranger vehicle shortly after the girl's body was discovered. A Sevier County Sheriff's Deputy located the suspect near Glenwood just after 11 p.m.
The 17-year-old driver of the vehicle fled when officers tried to pull him over, and a high-speed chase ensued with police. Eventually, the chase ended near Salina and the teen was taken into custody.
The suspect, who was not named due to his age, was charged with aggravated murder and will remain in custody as county officials work to determine if the teen will be tried as an adult.
“[O]ur county is devastated, we are a small county, and everyone knows this victim and her family,” Gleave wrote in a press release. “Murders don’t happen where we live and so, as you can appreciate, everyone (from Piute High School students, faculty and staff to friends and neighbors) is in shock and reeling from this tragedy."
The Piute County School District excused all absences on Monday. Counselors came in from other schools and counties to offer mental health resources.
“We sent some counselors to homes in cases where we felt like that might be necessary,” said Willis. “Any loss of life is a pretty significant event and is definitely being felt by the entire community.”
The name of the female victim was not made available while officials work to notify her family of her death.
“Obviously we’ve thought a lot about [her family] today and hope they know how much the community loves them and that we’re thinking about them,” said Willis.
