On Tuesday, one of the two Utah teenagers accused of the attempted murder of 14-year-old Deserae Turner had a preliminary hearing. The boys are accused of shooting Turner in the back of the head and leaving her to die in a canal.
And what was the boys' alleged motivation for shooting a girl who considered them friends? According to Sheriff Deputy Brian Groves, they were annoyed that Turner was contacting one of them via Snapchat. They were allegedly bothered by the messages and "wanted to get rid of her," according to reports.
According to Groves, the teen who was receiving the messages said that he was just kidding at first about killing Turner, but the second boy insisted that "It would be pretty easy to get rid of her." They apparently planned to slit her throat at first, but soon switched to a gun. Social media messages show that they had been planning the crime for weeks.
On February 16, the boys allegedly lured Turner to a canal, shot her in the head, stole her backpack and money, and left her there. She wasn't found for hours.
The second suspect admitted he was at the shooting, but says he didn't plan it—something that will be hard to convince people of, considering police found a shell casing from the gun in his room.
