EXCLUSIVE: ‘This is unimaginable for us’: sister of killed Utah teen speaks out
Jan 9, 2023, 10:24 PM | Updated: Jan 10, 2023, 11:48 am
PIUTE COUNTY, Utah — The pain is unimaginable for the family who lost their daughter and sister in a fatal shooting.
To them, 16-year-old Jacqueline Nunez was full of life and promise but was suddenly shot and killed Sunday night.
“We definitely need people to be praying for our family during this time,” said Mayuni Nunez, Jacqueline’s sister.
She is asking for prayers for her family as her family tries to deal with a horrific loss.
“This is unimaginable for us. Never. Never in a million years would I ever, ever expect to hear anything like this,” Mayuni said.
Police said that Jacqueline was found shot to death late last night near a dirt road just north of Circleville in Piute County.
The suspect, her 17-year-old boyfriend, police later tracked down and arrested after 11 p.m. Sunday near Salina, about 70 miles north of Circleville.
Mayuni told KSL TV the boy showed no signs of aggression toward her sister. He even attended her sweet 16th birthday party in November.
“She never reached out for help so I’m not sure if we could have helped her or it there was anything we could have done,” Mayuni said. “We thought he was a good guy. But I guess appearances lie because we all thought he was a good kid.”
Jacqueline was a sophomore here at Piute High School. Mayuni said Jacqueline loved all sports playing volleyball, basketball, softball, and cheerleading. She was a teenager who enjoyed life to the fullest.
“But that’s no longer possible because everything was just so sudden, and now, she’s just gone,” Mayuni said.
And the school district is also experiencing the pain of this shooting.
“There is a lot of pain, a lot of grief,” Koby Willis, superintendent of Piute County School District said. “This isn’t something that happens in Piute county ever. We haven’t had a tragedy like this.”
Putting life on hold for Piute High School as district officials postponed the school’s Homecoming Week and offered mental health services to students.
And Mayuni‘s message to everyone: “I just hope that everyone who’s listening to us and has family members, whether they’re near or far, can spend quality time with them because really, at the end of the day, that’s what matters.”
