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Mother of woman killed by police visits memorial, waits for answers

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By Pat Reavy, Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, Nov. 7 2012 5:34 p.m. MST

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Summary

Melissa Kennedy left Utah on Wednesday to return to her home in Vancouver, Wash. Before she left, she stopped by the parking lot of the Lexington Park Apartments, 2293 W. Lexington Park Drive (3710 South), one last time to see the makeshift memorial created for her daughter, Danielle "Dee Dee" Willard.

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“I just want the truth, and I'm willing to wait. Just as long as I get the truth in the end.”

Melissa Kennedy

What Kennedy also doesn't know is what prompted the officer or officers to open fire, whether they were justified and how the bullet struck Willard in the trajectory it did.

"There is something wrong here. There is obviously something wrong. How bad it is, I don't know. What they did right, I don't know. Again, we'll wait for the report and see what the real results are," she said.

Kennedy knows her daughter battled a severe heroin addiction. She knows her daughter wasn't perfect, especially when on drugs. Kennedy wants to keep a realistic view of what happened, which is why she's not ready to pass judgment on police.

But she also wants answers.

"I'm all for take your time. Give me the answers when you absolutely know them. Because I don't want them to come to me one day and say one thing and then come back two days later and say, 'Oh wait, we found out some more information.'

"I'm running on adrenaline. That's all I can think of. I feel a vise around my chest. I don't know if I'm holding myself tight enough, but I'm trying not to shake," she said.

On Saturday, Willard will be buried in hometown of Vancouver, Wash.

"I would like for this (incident) not to be known as a negative thing. Let's make something positive out of it. Let's learn from it if there was something wrong. Let's make this a teaching tool for other officers and other ways to take on this kind of a situation," Kennedy said.

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com

Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam

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Featured Comments

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Let's be reasonable
Baghdad, 00

This Mother is of course heartbroken, as would we all be. To her credit, she is also being very level-headed and reasonable in her approach. Praise to her for her willingness to wait for real truth rather than jumping to conclusions just becausse More..

  • 10:20 p.m. Nov. 7, 2012
  • Top comment
Shimlau
SAINT GEORGE, UT

Let's be reasonable; Amen!

  • 8:30 a.m. Nov. 8, 2012
  • Top comment
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About the Author
Pat Reavy

Pat Reavy

Pat is a veteran police and courts reporter for the Deseret News and KSL and has covered some of the biggest stories in Utah for the past two decades. He is a graduate of Michigan State University with a BA in journalism.

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