Ash Cooper: Transgender teen sentenced for fatally shooting girl, 12, then showing body on video call
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
BENSALEM, PENNSYLVANIA: An 18-year-old transgender woman will be behind bars for the 2022 slaying of a 12-year-old girl, according to local authorities.
Ash Cooper, who was previously known as Joshua Cooper, was sentenced in connection to the fatal shooting of Morgan Connors, according to a statement by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, per Fox News.
What did Ash Cooper do?
Cooper, who belongs to Bensalem, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty on Thursday, March 21, to third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence in connection to Morgan Connors' death in November 2022, the district attorney's office said.
Cooper, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, was given a sentence of 15 to 40 years in state prison and seven years of probation by Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L Finley, according to the statement.
In addition, the judge mandated that Cooper submit to psychological and mental testing as well as abide by all guidelines and recommendations of adult probation and parole.
Paul Lang, Cooper's defense attorney, confirmed to Newsweek in a text message on Saturday, March 23 that the teen "goes by she and her".
"Ash's plea marks the initial but not the ultimate phase in her journey to redemption," Lang said.
He added, "As her lawyer, I am pleased that my defense contributed to securing a favorable sentence for her, one that notably prevented life in prison."
Cooper used firearm from her father's gun safe
The Bensalem Township Police Department received a 911 report regarding a potential murder at the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park on Gibson Road in Bensalem, a township about 20 miles from Philadelphia, shortly after 4 pm on November 25, 2022.
According to the prosecution, a "juvenile witness" was in a video conversation on Instagram with a friend, who subsequently turned out to be Cooper and who was claiming to have killed someone.
"In the video chat, Cooper flipped the video image and showed the legs and feet of someone covered in blood," the district attorney's office said. "Cooper then asked the acquaintance for assistance with cleaning up the scene and disposing of the body."
When officers arrived at the Gibson Road property, they spotted Cooper running out of the back of the trailer. She was found and taken into custody soon after.
When the officers entered the caravan,they discovered Connors dead on the toilet floor, apparently from a gunshot wound, along with evidence that "substantial steps were taken to clean up the crime scene," according to the district attorney's office.
According to the statement, investigators concluded that Cooper shot Connors with a gun from her father's gun safe inside the house.
During Cooper's sentencing on Thursday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy read an impact statement from the 12-year-old victim's grandfather who described the "intense pain and heartbreak" of losing Connors.
