SPRINGVILLE, Utah — Lily Conroy, 17, and Masao Kaanga, 19, are gone too soon, said Bishop Ryan Fish.
“That's all we can do right now is just love them," he said. “Wonderful families. They've been a part of this community for many, many years and very well respected, loved by everyone, as well as their children. Just amazing people.”
A vigil was held Thursday night in Springville for families and friends of the two teens involved in a possible murder-suicide Wednesday afternoon.
Conroy was a junior at Springville High School, and Kaanga had graduated last year. The two, who grew up on the same street just a few houses down from each other, were in a relationship but had broken up Tuesday night.
Police discovered Conroy and Kaanga in Hobble Creek Park Wednesday, both slumped over in a car with gunshot wounds to their heads. Police pronounced Kaanga dead on the scene and Conroy was light flighted to the hospital, where she remains on life support but is not expected to survive.
The Nebo School District sent out a note to Springville High School parents Thursday morning, and teachers gave students the news of their classmate Lily passing away in homeroom, said Lana Hiskey, Communications and Community Relations Administrator for the District.
Conroy's family members were in the hospital with her all night and all day keeping her on life support so all her organs could be donated to a local family in need.
WATCH: Community remembers two Springville teens in candlelight vigil Thursday night:
“It was really nice to see this morning when all the students came and they were dressed up," she said. "They wanted to show their respect for Lily and her family.”
The high school will be offering grief counseling for students all week, said Hiskey.
“Everyone grieves differently," she said. "And this is tragic on many levels, and we wanted to make sure that our students had the resources that they needed when they came to school today, and so we wanted to make sure that they knew that that was available.”
Thursday, community members tied blue ribbons on trees for the teenagers. Some neighbors even stopped by the families’ homes to mow their lawns and offer whatever help they could, said Fish.
"It's interesting, even though we have ward boundaries and different boundaries down here, it's one big family," he said. "It just seems like our kids are so close and tight-knit, it's really rocked our community.”
