Tragedy

“This just happened down the road from me yesterday!

Student shoots, kills himself in school bathroom

Associated Press
January 11, 2005


FERDINAND, Ind. -- A student went into a restroom and shot himself to death Monday at Forest Park Junior-Senior High School, officials said.

The 15-year-old freshman was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital in nearby Huntingburg, said DuBois County Coroner Tony Matthews. He said the boy, whose name was not released, died from a gunshot to the head.

No one else was in the restroom at the time of the shooting, Johnson said. The boy was found by a staff member.

Superintendent Bob Johnson said he knew of no problems the boy might have had, either at school or at home.”

“Wow, flashback to 1992. I had almost the same thing happen in my high school. Only the kid there shot himself in front of the flagpole at about 2am. No one saw the body until the first school busses arrived the next morning.”

“This happens in every school at about this age. My guess was that he was having problems at school with a bully. People that kill temselves at home usually have a problem with a parent and they want the parent to find them. Kinda like a F you!

A friend of mine killed himself about 3 months ago.”

“You're right WK...The rumor mill is that he was being picked on at school recently.”

“Someone was negligent allowing a 15 yr old access to a gun.

Parents did not do too good a job teaching the child, if he thinks taking a gun to school is OK.

The death of a young person is always a tragic waste, failing to learn from it makes it worse, a meaningless death.

The only thing that would be worse is if the youth used the gun to shoot others.”

“I'm sooo sad right now”

“"Parents did not do too good a job teaching the child, if he thinks taking a gun to school is OK."

Some people like to blame the parents as though they "taught their kid that taking a gun to school is OK."

Can you remember being 15?
Did you follow instructions like an automaton?”

“I never took any weapon to school, it would not have occurred to me to do so.

I did receive military training in high school (not in US), rifles, machine guns, live firing exercises.

I was taught to think about concepts of right and wrong by parents, relatives, teachers, and yes the local church.”

“I almost killed myself when I was 16. I got caught in the act.

In a way, you are right Manuka. We don't know if this weapon came from home or somewhere else. The kid could have bought it the morning he used it. It is hard to blame the parents for this. They just lost a child, I think that is enough. When you get in the mindset, you think there is no other solution. I was being abused at home and at school. I was made to feel that my life had no meaning. When that is pounded into your head on a daily basis, there is not much else to think about.

Sucide is a selfish act. You think that you are going to get back at those that are hurting you. What we really need to do is talk to each other more. Express our feelings.

Unfortunatlly, if this kid was getting picked on at school, he had no where to run. If he told an administrator at school, he would have gotten the bullly or bullies in trouble for awhile. After these kids serve detention or what ever, they will start right back up.

If he tells his parents, the same thing happens. It sucks to be a teenager!”

“This type of thing just shakes a highschool’s world. I can’t imagine trying to be a teen growing up today. I know how hopeless young people can feel at this rough stage of life. I remember feeling so alone and helpless with the only thought being, “Gawd, three more years of this shlt. Two more years of this shlt.”. If I were to have kids I would make it a normal and perfectly fine routine of having them talk to a psychologist or someone.

I’ve never told another living sole this before (so be kind) but when I was 17 and depressed on my way home from a night of drinking I was coming up to a sharp curve in the road. I was bummed out that night and decided I’d just floor it and if I made the curve I made it. If I didn’t make it, phuck it. Thankfully I was in a Ford Shltscort and made it, saving my dumbass. I have grown up to be a fine, upstanding dumbass.”

“Sorry to say this....but the kid was a wussy. He should've shot the bully.

Not that I'm condoning gun violence or any violence of any sort.....but isn't it more logical to end/fix the source of one's pain in the a s s...i.e. the bully, low income or arthritis etc.

None the least...It is a tragedy.”

“Someone was negligent allowing a 15 yr old access to a gun.

Parents did not do too good a job teaching the child, if he thinks taking a gun to school is OK.



Uhm. I'm no psychologist, or psychiatrist . . .but you seemed to have missed the point here.


MarkO already pointed it out.

I am not sure what "allowing access to a gun" or "think[ing] taking a gun to school is OK" has t do with anything.

Clearly he didn't think taking a gun to school was okay. Clearly he wasn't thinking much was OK that day.

Teen suicide is an issue that runs a little deeper and is a little more complex than a lock on a gun safe and teaching the proper use of firearms.”

“Aah but Stanlee,

If he shot the bully he would be locked away

.. and the new bullies would add a new dimension to his misery.

I am personally unable to comprehend the mindset that wants oblivion, that thinks that things can never get better, and that it is better not to be.

But I know it does exist, and being unable to understand I would not know the first step to recognition let alone prevention. As a parent with children this scares me a lot.”

“Teenagers are very emotional, and there are so many reasons that seem good enough to them to kill themselves at that age.”

““Sorry to say this....but the kid was a wussy. He should've shot the bully.

Not that I'm condoning gun violence or any violence of any sort.....but isn't it more logical to end/fix the source of one's pain in the a s s...i.e. the bully, low income or arthritis etc.

None the least...It is a tragedy.”
stanlee
1:28:11 PM
1/11/05
ignore this user

Yes Stan, you have a point, somewhat. This was my problem as well. Bigger kids were the ones picking on me. My freshmen year in high school I weighed in at 75 pounds and stood 5'2". That pretty much stayed the same my sophmore year as well. I fought back once and learned my lesson. It is hard to defend yourself against 4 guys that gang tackle and beat you senseless. They did it because their fathers would pound on them when they got home from work and got some alcohol in their system.

In turn, the kids would take it out on me at school. I got tripped, thrown into lockers, beaten, you name it.

I understand it now, but at the time, I just wanted it to stop. I never once thought about taking any sort of weapon to use against these guys. I tried fighting back once. The broken arm, ribz and eye socket was enough to remind me every time to take in and walk away.”

“I know what you mean WK...I was bullied in highschool also (Not nearly as badly as you). I was really timid and shy, and were not covered in muscles. Guess my mom saw this and pushed me into Tae Kwon Do and Karate....this arts really helped my confidence. After another bullying incidence...and I whacked the punk a few times....I was never bothered again.

Back then, I didn't own any guns...or knew where to get some illegal ones (still don't now). But if I had a gun, I won't think of killing myself....I would kill them.

Geez, after 16 years of Kung Fu, and my master talking about peace, harmony and stuff....I have not seen the light (Zen).”

“See, I should have done something like that, but never did.

I look back at what happened and I think it strengthened me.”

“Could just be good ol' depression. I have seasonal affect (depression when it gets darker in the fall/winter) and when it first hit me in 10th grade - HARD - taking myself out was entirely reasonable. I wasn't being bullied. There was just a chemical imbalance somewhere in my brain.”

“S.A.D....could be.

Lot's people who work at the North or South pole get it.”

“Yikes! That hit you early.”

“And thank God it didn't get too out of control. Almost did. That first year was awful. Wasn't nearly that bad in later years but still wasn't a party.

Sucks that I didn't figure it out until a few years ago. In high school and then college and then jobs after that, every winter my relationships with friends and bosses would go south and I never knew why. I started smoking because of it - it was self-medication and I didn't know it.

I can fully understand how people spiral into addictions and suicide to escape the nasty black hole of depression.”

“Clinical depression is a disease the affected may not even realize they have. Parents should be aware of the signs and interject. I know I am accutely aware.

My brother killed himself at the age of 20. My parents had gotten him all the help available. It wasn't enough.”

“Why's it gotta be all about whether the parents teach the kids whether guns are ok or not? I think we're totally missing the point here. Like a 15-year-old is not going to do something because mommy said so...

Nobody is going to shoot themselves in the head to try to look cool. Even adults that attempt to commit suicide in public usually do not succeed.

Clinical deperession is definitely a possiblilty. Today's high school culture is very quick to completely alienate you if don't jump on the whole mainstream football/cheerleader bandwagon. Now add a bully or two or thrity into the picture, coupled with subpar grades (because you're unfortunately not as smart as most of the other kids) and all of a sudden, suicide doesn't seem as irrational anymore.

Now, I'm not saying that this was the specific situation here, but this alienation of our youth in the high school culture is a serious problem. (Think Columbine High School, Littleton, CO, April 1999).”

“Last quarter a student committed suicide with a shotgun in the computer lab I am now using. He was an 18 year old junior taking 26 units (he started college at age 16).

There are lots of suicides on college campuses that don't make much of a splash on the news.”

“Today's high school culture is very quick to completely alienate you if don't jump on the whole mainstream football/cheerleader bandwagon.

Phantom-- I remember high school being that way 20 years ago... little has changed, except that now there's even more pressure to feel like you belong....

I remember being very upset at one point over the death of my grandfather when I was in 10th grade. Decided that no one understood my pain and ran outside from my parents in the snow with nothing but socks on my feet. At that point, reason wasn't foremost in my mind, just felt the need to go away and hurt myself... Thankfully, I only got a mild case of frostbite on my feet....

The point is that as a teenager-- those hormones and chemical balances change within your body and affect your moods....
with the pressures from the media (internet and TV) to be one of these "beautiful perfect people", it's actually surprising that this doesn't happen more often.

I remember a boy in my sister's class (a few years younger) who was class president, well-liked by students and staff and almost succeeded in killing himself via carbon monoxide poisoning...Everyone was shocked...

Some children are good at putting the "best face forward" despite things that are happening within.

I hope that his family and friends are able to get the grief counseling that they will undoubtably need in the near future....”

“Ther are a lot of facters that could of cotributed to this tragady.(i did a show on this type of subject once.we had a trianed counsler as the guest) so these are just a few possible things that could of come to play.
teens are and always have been good at hiding things frome others. so even poeple who cared and did pay atention could easaly e fooled.
Not enough poeple know some of the worning signs.
even if poeple, friends family ect do notice. often they are reluctant to confront for fear of planting thaughts/seeds that could cause there fears to come true.
some one missed something hear but i wont speculate who or what. often only after somthing like this, do poeple see clearly all the signs that were right in front of there faces. and they blame themselvs for letting that person down.sometimes there is more merit to that feeling than others.
i have had a friend commit suicide when i was in shcool so i have some clue. and i was picked on a lot but was lucky enough to be able defend myself.and was able to give as well as take what came at me.not everyone was or is so lucky.

kids have it harder than many of us had it growing up. (to many things to to list.)”

“My brother of 38 years old committed suicide two months ago. He killed himself by intentional overdose of lithium prescribed to "help" a condition understood as bi-polar disorder.

My brother is dead.”

“For real tragedy take a look at the Hemingway family history of suicide.

Suicide a Family Matter for Mariel Hemingwa
By E.J. Mundell, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 21 (HealthDayNews) -- When Mariel Hemingway speaks out on the issue of suicide, it's because she knows firsthand what it can do to a family.

Her grandfather, Nobel prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway, took his own life in July 1961, just months before Mariel was born. The author of The Sun Also Rises and countless other classics lost his own father to suicide, and in later years his brother Leicester and sister Ursula would take their own lives as well.

"There's speculation that my sister Margaux committed suicide," Mariel Hemingway added. Margaux Hemingway, a model and actress, died in 1996 of an overdose of sedatives at age 41.”