Shayna McEntire, a 16-year-old girl from Arizona died in an apparent suicide after she and her boyfriend broke up.
Shayna McEntire’s death has been ruled a suicide by local police officials.
“Subsequent investigation revealed she had jumped in front of a vehicle that was westbound on Elliot in an effort to end her life,” police spokesman Sgt. William Balafas reported.
Shayna McEntire’s boyfriend remains unidentified, but his mother told a local reporter that the news of Shayna’s death lead him to try to take his own life as well. He has since been hospitalized.
On the outside, Shayna McEntire seemed to have a lot to live for. Known for her smile and good grades, she planned to graduate and go to college.
In recent weeks, friends noticed that she had been going through a tough time.
“She was just upset,” Shayna’s mother Shannon McEntire told a local paper.
“I don’t think she expected what happened.”
Friends and family members who knew Shayna McEntire were surprised by the news, remembering her as a vivacious and happy girl.
“I’ll remember her by that smile,” said friend Tim Lawrence. “It was something that could warm the absolute coldest hearts.”
Shayna McEntire was a junior at Gilbert High School about a half hour outside of Phoenix, Arizona, where she had a 3.75 grade point average.
The school’s principal notified students and said that grief counsellors would be made available.
“We are all saddened by this loss,” principal Charles Santa Cruz said in the email.
This was Shayna McEntire’s first year at the high school and while her mother said there was a difficult transition period initially, she had moved on and was hoping to play on the school’s basketball team.
“She had a flair for the dramatic. She had a beautiful smile. She was a good girl,” Shannon McEntire said.
“I just want to hear her voice and just hold her and hug her.”
Friends made a makeshift memorial on the side of the road where she died, collecting notes and photos. Some left a Bible that they signed, paying tribute to Shayna McEntire’s religious upbringing.
Shayna McEntire was hit by a male driver who was coming back from the hospital where he was visiting his father.
