Teen sentenced in fatal shooting of friend in Bensalem, Pa.

✅ Morgan Conners was found dead in the bathroom of her Bensalem home

✅ Friend Ash Cooper admitted shooting her friend but never disclosed a reason

✅Cooper has transitioned from male to female while behind bars

BENSALEM, Pa. — A teen admitted she killed a 12-year-old friend in 2022 and showed her bloody body during an Instrgram chat while asking for advice on what to do next.

Bucks County Attorney General Jen Schorn said Ash Cooper, who was 16 years old at the time, went to the home of friend Morgan Conners at the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park on Gibson Road in Bensalem on Nov. 25. Cooper contacted an acquaintance looking for help with cleaning up the scene and getting rid of the body.

Cooper then changed the cell phone camera view to show the bloody legs and feet of someone lying on the floor. The acquaintance told her mother who then notified police, according to Schorn.

Arriving police saw a teen run out the back of the trailer. Cooper was found and taken into custody. Officers found Morgan's body on the bathroom floor. Shorn said "substantial steps" appear to have been taken to clean the crime scene.

Shorn said Cooper removed a firearm from her father's safe by replacing the batteries which rendered the lock inoperable.

Sentenced to adult prison

Cooper pled guilty to third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Cooper was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in state prison and a consecutive sentence of seven years of probation.

Cooper, who is now 18, must follow all the rules and recommendations of adult probation and parole and undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations.

After the sentencing Bucks County prosecutor Kristin McElroy said Cooper has never explained the motivation for the shooting, according to coverage by the Bucks County Courier Times.

Cooper, who was known as Joshua at the time of the shooting has transitioned to female and taken the name Ash.

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