This Jeep parked in a Dufferin driveway is currently being investigated by police. It's not yet known if this vehicle was involved in the hit and run Friday evening, Nov. 4.

(ASHLEY LEGASSIC / iNFOnews.ca)

'WHEN IT'S A YOUTH, IT'S ESPECIALLY TRAUMATIC'

KAMLOOPS - RCMP in Kamloops are investigating a vehicle that was found in Dufferin but it's not yet known if it's linked to Friday's fatal hit and run.

Jennifer Gatey, 16, was killed on Friday night, Nov. 4, just one day before her 17th birthday. It happened on Pacific Way in Aberdeen around 6:30 p.m.

Officers arrived at the scene to find Gatey had succumbed to her injuries and no vehicle was in sight. Despite a news story from a local media outlet, RCMP say a suspect has not been identified.

Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Jodi Shelkie says the detachment is investigating several tips that came in over the weekend.

"We received a tip about a vehicle so we’re investigating," Shelkie says. "At this time we don’t know if it’s linked or not."

Police tape is hung across a driveway at a home in the 1300 block of Sunshine Court this morning, Nov. 7, a Jeep in the driveway has a tarp on it and an officer is guarding the scene.

"It’s been a top priority for us since Friday at 6:45 p.m.," Shelkie says. "We had our serious crime, our traffic services and our general duty members all fully engaged over the weekend 24 hours a day since that has happened."

Shelkie says it's important for the public to understand the investigation is in it's early stages.

"We don't know if this was the vehicle (involved in the hit and run)," she says. "We're investigating many leads."

No one has been taken into custody, she says, but the owner of the Jeep in Dufferin has been spoken to by police.

On the weekend police released photos and video of a vehicle that was in the area at the time of the hit and run in Aberdeen.

Shelkie can't say what caused the fatal crash on Friday evening, but it's likely not weather-related.

"The roads that night were bare and dry… it was not raining, it was not snowing," she says. "There (were) only two people there. We can’t speak to one and the other one we haven’t found yet."

She says considering Gatey's age, this was a tough situation for first responders.

"It’s always horrific to go to a scene where somebody has died, but when it’s a youth it’s especially traumatic and in this situation it’s just, it’s really sad."

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