8th-grader's suicide at Southgate school stuns community

Southgate — Class had just begun Thursday morning at Davidson Middle School when an eighth-grade student slipped out of his classroom and got a gun.

There, on the second floor of the school with 800 students and a staff of teachers and administrators inside, the 13-year-old boy entered a bathroom and pulled the trigger — committing a very public suicide that left students, school officials and the community searching for answers.

"I give credit to the first responders. The staff that found him … I have a vision in my mind that is never going to leave me," Southgate school Superintendent Bill Grusecki said.

Why the teen took his life was unclear Thursday night, as about 300 students, parents and teachers formed a circle outside Anderson High School during a vigil in his honor.

Holding white candles and wearing T-shirts that read "RIP," students listened as the teen's older half-sister addressed them.

"This is so awesome, because that was my brother," she said.

"Thank you, everyone," she told the crowd. Some shouted "God bless you!" in reply.

The Detroit News is not identifying the boy or family members.

The crowd prayed, listened to a poetry reading and released balloons.

Davidson student Samantha Dow, 14, who attended the vigil, said she knew the victim as a "really funny and outgoing person."

"He was normal. He didn't show any signs of bullying, but I guess most people hide it because they are afraid it will get worse," she said.

Police said late Thursday afternoon the student took the handgun from a family member's home. The firearm, a .40 caliber Glock, was legally registered, said Thomas Coombs, Southgate's public safety director. He would not identify the family member who owned the gun.

Coombs told The News late Thursday afternoon that the boy left a note, which he characterized as "an open letter that talked about the drama and difficulty of being a 13-year-old."

At a news conference earlier, Coombs said he hadn't read the note but was told it "does address a specific person, apparently someone he knew from the school."

Grusecki said he doesn't believe the 13-year-old, who also was not identified Thursday by police or school officials, was bullied.

"All I know from what we found out with parents there is no way this was a bullying issue. These kids of these parents said the kid was very popular, never complained of having any issues in the school, had friends," Grusecki said.

Courtney Widby, 13, a Davidson student and friend of the victim's, said she had never seen or heard anyone bully him, but students had talked Thursday about the possibility in class.

Police and school officials said the student shot himself once in the head shortly after classes began at 8 a.m. Police responded to the school at 8:14 a.m.

Another student found the boy in the bathroom and told a teacher, thinking he had a head injury.

Courtney, an eighth-grader, said the boy who found the victim was in her class. "The kid in my class went to the bathroom and came back and said he was on the floor," she said.

She said officials put the school on lockdown and later canceled classes.

"They announced it and said some kid shot himself and that was it," she said. "I didn't know it was (him)."

The news sent frightened parents rushing to the school.

Duane Harvey said he was summoned to pick up his eighth-grade son. "They called us and told us that we had to pick up our children. There had been a shooting," he said outside the school.

Asked what was going through his mind as he drove to the building, Harvey responded: "The safety of my son, just hoping he was all right."

The school will remain closed today, though counselors will be available.

Courtney said she didn't hear the gunshot, but she talked to students in other classes who said they did.

She said she saw the boy before classes began Thursday morning and that he was in a class across the hall from hers. "He looked normal," she said.

She described him as a smart, upbeat boy who got good grades.

"He was funny. He was a really nice kid. He was like a straight-A student, like the class clown," she said. "If anyone was feeling bad, he would always try to make them feel better."

William Boda, a ninth-grader, was in an English class on the school's second floor when the shooting occurred. He did not hear a gunshot.

William said he and other students were in lockdown for about an hour, instructed to stand in the corner of their classrooms, away from the doors.

Then the principal gathered everyone in the school gym to talk about what happened. "He said a kid shot himself, a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He said everything was going to be fine," said William, 15.

"It's sad that it happened at our school. I'm concerned about things at our school. Some people are saying bullying was part of it," William said.

The teen said that considering the student brought a gun to school to commit suicide, he would like the school to begin security checks at the door.

"That would be safe," he said.

When school resumes Monday, officials are asking students to carry books by hand instead of by backpack. They plan to search students as they come in and are looking into added security at the school until they can find out whether they can add metal detectors.

"You don't think this will happen in your community.But it did," said Paul Knott, the schoolboard vice president. "I have children in the school district also andwhen I received the phone call, my wife andI just hugged and prayed."

Grusecki said the teen was in class Thursday morning when he asked to be excused to go to the bathroom. He did not take anything with him as he left class, which suggests he went to his locker to obtain the weapon, he said.

Grusecki said staff had no idea the student, whom he described as being "somewhat popular," had a gun.

He implored all gun owners to lock up their weapons.

"A family is in mourning tonight; they are suffering through a great tragedy. A young man got his hand on a weapon and brought it into school. We need to challenge everyone who has weapons at home — they need to lock them up," Grusecki said.

The boy was pronounced dead at Oakwood Southshore Hospital, Coombs said. An autopsy will be conducted by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office.

Jan Ellis, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said Thursday it is very rare for a suicide to occur at a public school.

The last two school years, only six suicides were reported. Five occurred in 2009-10 and three in 2008-09.

The deaths include any suicide that occurred on school property or at a school event; the victims are not necessarily staff or students. The state data do not specify.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death nationally for those between the ages of 10 and 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The top three methods are firearm, suffocation and poisoning.

In Michigan, a 2011 survey of public school students in grades 9-12 found that 16 percent of students reported seriously considering suicide, 13 percent reported creating a plan and 8 percent reported trying to take their own life in the previous 12 months.

Rabbi Daniel Syme of Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills has devoted much of his life's work to suicide prevention, saying after such a tragedy everyone wants to do something to see it doesn't happen again. His brother committed suicide at age 22.

"A response to this sort of tragedy is to bring the students together. … The trick is to get to the young people. … It's the kids who really save lives," Syme said. "And the message for the adults is to pay attention."

jchambers@detroitnews.com

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