Attorney says shooting has torn apart 3 families

The dry canal where the injured girl was found around 12:45 a.m.

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — An attorney for one of the Utah teenagers accused of plotting to kill a 14-year-old girl says the boy’s parents were caught off guard by the allegations.

Lawyer Shannon Demler said Wednesday that the parents of his 16-year-old client are having a very hard time after their son and another boy were charged with robbing and trying to kill Deserae Turner.

The girl is in critical condition after being shot in the head and left in a ditch.

Demler says the case “has torn apart three families” and has shaken up the small town of Smithfield.

The Associated Press isn’t naming the defendants because they’re juveniles.

Demler says he’ll argue that his client should be kept in the juvenile court system. A prosecutor has said he wants to try the boys as adults.

The attorney for the other teen defendant wasn’t immediately available for comment.

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