Murdered Ferris Teenager Remembered
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ELLIS COUNTY (CBS11) - "89 pounds of heart and determination." That's how 18-year-old Evette Quezada is being remembered at Ferris High School.
She graduated in May, having claimed every cross country record at the school and then, coaches say, began breaking her own. Those who knew her say she was the last person that you'd ever suspect would be connected to any trouble-- and yet trouble found her.
"Right now, I'm still in shock," says friend and former Ferris High athlete Carlos Martinez,"unbelievable."
Martinez didn't feel much like opening up the family's boot store Monday - his heart, like so many in Ferris, heavy and his mind racing with questions."Mainly asking, "Why? Why her?'"
Quezada was murdered early Sunday in what the Ellis County Sheriff's Department has called a "disturbance."
Sources say two other men were injured during the shooting and one of them is the victim's brother. But, investigators have yet to say what prompted the violence nor who opened fire.
"She was tremendously smart," says Martinez, then asking, "what's that word I'm looking for? A parent's dream daughter… a parent's dream daughter."
Ferris school leaders also called Quezada a campus leader and one that any teacher would want in class.
"She was just a great kid," says Melinda Domain, PhD, with Ferris ISD. Domain says the Ferris school community is mourning. "When you pull up Facebook, and you can see them posting things: 'we miss you already' and it just hurts your heart to know that they're hurting and they're not even in school so they can be together and process that."
Martinez, too, says there is so much that he will miss."Her smile, her sense of humor, her athleticism… and the way she always talked about God."
According to Martinez, the Quezada family hosted Bible study groups in their home. And over the weekend, they hosted extended relatives for a large family reunion. The shooting happened soon afterward.
"What I'm hearing is that a cousin was the one that caused everything," says Martinez, "it shouldn't have happened… they deserved so much better, they don't deserve losing an amazing girl like her."
The family has set up a GoFundMe page for funeral expenses.
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