Death Of Utah Teen Now Considered Suspicious By Police

WEST JORDAN, Utah – A Utah community is grieving following the death of a 17-year-old girl in an incident that police are calling suspicious.

Kaylissa O’Leary, a senior at Copper Hills High School, was shot and killed at a home in Taylorsville over the weekend.

Police said Kaylissa was at a house party when somehow she was shot Saturday night. The details were still unclear, but initial 911 calls said the shooting was accidental. When police arrived at the scene, most of the teens at the house had scattered and Kaylissa’s car was missing.

They were now calling the shooting suspicious.

Following the shooting on Saturday, authorities said her car was missing. Police said they recovered the vehicle on Monday but haven’t released details on how or when they found the car.

At Copper Hills High, classes resumed normally Monday morning. However, students said the mood was noticeably different.

“The school is just really quiet,” said senior Mea Davis. “It’s really eerie.”

“It’s definitely a lot quieter,” said sophomore Easton Dell. “Everyone is just kind of minding their own business a little bit but you can tell people are definitely appreciating people a lot more today.”

Throughout the school, crisis counselors were made available to any student needing to talk.

“There was a moment of silence for her,” Davis said. “A lot of people are crying and the principals and all the vice principals are showing a lot of support for (Kaylissa).”

On Monday, friends and classmates are trying to focus on how Kaylissa lived and not how she died.

“She just loved every kind of person,” Dell said. “She was just there for you and just an amazing person.”

They’re still trying to wrap their minds around Kaylissa being at school on Friday and then being gone one day later.

“Yeah, I saw her driving home on Friday,” Davis said. “It’s just so weird.”