A recent high school graduate and star cross-country athlete was shot dead early Sunday, leaving her rural Texas community reeling over the unthinkable loss.

Evette Quezada, 18, was found dead along with two injured men, one of whom was her brother, a family member told WFAA-TV. Authorities discovered the shooting scene after responding to a "disturbance" along a road around 2:30 a.m. in Ferris, some 20 miles southeast of Dallas.

"Everyone's pretty much distraught over it because she was loved by pretty much everybody," former classmate Miranda Longino told the TV station.

The pretty athlete smashed every cross country record while running for Ferris High School and made her way to the state championships.

"She is the type of person that every parent wants their young daughter to be like," school athletic director Allen Emeyabbi told WFAA. "She was hard-working, intelligent, outgoing, polite, puts others' feelings before her own, the list goes on."

Few details have been released about the shooting. No arrests have been announced and cops have not said how the two men were injured or publicly identified them. Little was said beyond an Ellis County sheriff's office spokesman describing the call as a "disturbance."

Police could not immediately be reached for comment Monday morning.


Friends and family flooded Quezada's Facebook page with messages of remembrance after the tragic news quickly spread through the small community. Several referenced a recent family reunion.

"Waking up this morning and having to face the fact that you are really gone is killing me. Just knowing that I had the opportunity to watch you grow into the beautiful woman you were is just heartbreaking," Mica Chilton wrote. "I love you so much Evette and I will always have you in my heart. Watch over us babygirl. Until we meet again."