Suicide at School

We lost another child to guns today. It has been reported that an 8th grade student at Davidson Middle School in Southgate, Michigan committed suicide. According to officials, it was a self-inflicted gun shot to the head. He left a note (WDIV and WXYZ).

May he rest in peace and my condolences go out to the family. This was a tragedy in so many ways and leaves us with so many questions. How is it that this young person had such easy access to a loaded gun? Did he buy it on the street? Was it a parents weapon? If so, why was it loaded and not locked up? Or, if it was locked up, why was the key within the reach of this distraught young person? Where were the parents?  The gun being available was a crucial piece to this awful puzzle but where were the parents when the child was calling for help? My guess is that he had been depressed and desperate for awhile. Parents are not mind readers but almost every suicidal person signals their distress in any of a myriad of ways. It is, however, sometimes very difficult to read these signs. Perhaps the parents thought he was being a "moody teenager."  It is maddening that he had ready access to a loaded gun but also that he DIDN'T have access to help. Why, oh why are guns so ubiquitous while mental health resources are few and far between?

  I sincerely hope that this is not another case where the child had been bullied to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.  Bullying is so common but also devastating. It can scar a life permanently and can even lead to suicide as we have seen all too often. And suicide reaches out and grabs the survivors as well. For the classmates, there may well be guilt, that they survived, or even that they somehow caused the death of a schoolmate. I can only imagine the guilt that will fall upon their young shoulders. I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that help will be available to them now. They will need it. So will his family. According to NIMH, family history of suicide raises the risk for another suicide ( www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us ). According to Danish researchers:

"... people who had a mother, father, or sibling die from suicide were two and a half times more likely to commit suicide themselves compared with those without a similar family history. And people who had a family history of psychiatric illness that required hospital admission had a 50% higher risk of suicide, but only among those who didn't already have a history of mental illness themselves." (WebMD, October, 2002)

I am not sure of the connection between friends or schoolmates and suicide but it would not surprise me to learn that there is an increased risk for them as well.

So, what exactly happened to cause this young soul to seek an end to his apparent suffering? Was it bullying? Whatever it was, it was obviously too much for him. It is too bad that it was so easy for him to get hold of a loaded gun. Without the gun there may have been a way out for him though he couldn't see it at the time. The gun prettywell put an end to possibilities.  Yes, he may have found another way to end his life but a gun shot to the head is pretty much final.  No time for second thoughts. The combination of access to guns and the LACK of access to mental health services can be and was, deadly. When will we ever learn?