A 9-year-old boy identified as Jamel Myles from Colorado, committed suicide after he was reportedly bullied by his classmates for coming out as gay.The boy who started fourth grade at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School on Monday, committed suicide on his first week in the school, and his mom says bullying is to blame.
“He looked so scared when he told me,” Pierce told KDVR-TV. “He was like, ‘Mom I’m gay.’ And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, ‘I still love you.’”
It was gathered that on Thursday, four days into the school year, Pierce found her son dead in their Denver home.
“Four days is all it took at school,” she said. “I could just imagine what they said to him. My son told my oldest daughter the kids at school told him to kill himself. I’m just sad he didn’t come to me.”“I’m so upset that he thought that was his option,” Pierce said.
In the statement, the district said it will continue to offer support to the family. Through the devastation, Pierce wants to spread awareness about the effects of bullying.
“We should have accountability for bullying,” she said. “I think the child should, because the child knows it’s wrong. The child wouldn’t want someone to do it to them. I think the parent should be held (accountable) because obviously the parents are either teaching them to be like that, or they’re treating them like that.”
Though a letter Denver Public Schools to families sent Friday, disclosed it’s providing extra social workers and its crisis team for students, the late boy’s mother said she hopes no parent ever has to go through this pain because their child is different from everyone else. The Denver Police Department is investigating the death as a suicide.
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