The family of a Utah teenager says he has “unexpectedly” died after he lost his parents, two sisters and a brother during what authorities said was a murder-suicide that unfolded about one year ago.
Sha Reh, who “miraculously survived” the December 2024 tragedy, passed on Sunday, January 11 at his aunt and uncle’s home, his extended family said in a statement shared on a GoFundMe page, which was created to support funeral and memorial services for him.
Reh, 19, died of “natural causes,” his family and the president of a church Reh attended, a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told Fox 13.
Reh was the only member of his immediate family who survived the harrowing ordeal at his West City Valley home on December 17, 2024, according to authorities, the TV station reported.
His father, Dae Reh, was accused of shooting his mother, siblings and Sha before Dae died by suicide, police said, according to Fox 13. Sha was blinded by the shooting and hospitalized with a severe brain injury.
“Despite losing his vision in both eyes, and over the course of the past 13 months, Sha Reh overcame numerous obstacles on his pathway to healing,” his extended family said in their statement.
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Sha was attending Granger High School at the time of the shooting, KUTV reported.
In January 2025, he enrolled in the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, according to his extended family.
There, his family said he “learned to communicate in Braille and live independently.”
In the week leading to his death, Sha started his first week of undergraduate studies at the University of Utah, according to the GoFundMe page.
Sha dreamed of attending college and had plans of pursuing law school, his family said.
In a statement, according to Fox 13, the Utah State Board of Education said it “extends its sincere condolences to the family, friends, and educators mourning the passing of Sha Reh.”
“Sha Reh was part of Utah’s education community, and his determination to continue his education in the face of profound challenges was recognized by those who knew him,” the statement added. “Our thoughts are with all who are grieving this loss.”
Sha was the oldest of his siblings, who were ages 2, 8, and 11 when they were killed in the December 2024 family shooting, Fox 13 reported. Sha, who was 17 at the time, was shot in the head.
The family of Sha’s mother, Bu Meh, said in a statement that she and her husband had come to the U.S. with their family after leaving Myanmar and staying at a refugee camp in Thailand more than 10 years ago, according to the TV station.
“After moving into their own home and finally enjoying a level of prosperity far beyond the nightmare of their former country or the refugee camp in Thailand in which they lived for the season, and for reasons that we cannot comprehend, her husband robbed her and their children of that security and their very lives,” Bu Meh’s family said.
In the statement on Sha’s death, his extended family thanked Salt Lake County first responders, local police and a medical examiner’s office for supporting Sha in the wake of the family tragedy.
“While we are devastated at the news of his death, the knowledge of the joy of his reunion with his family exceeds our pain,” the statement said. “He was among those who were once blind, but now can see. He has a perfect vision of his and his family’s eternity, and his home is now with them.”
“Caring for him and watching him grow and regain his independence has been a labor of love for our family,” the statement added.
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