Police Investigate If Cyberbullying Led To Queens Girl's Suicide
Students at I.S. 109 in Queens Village said they were shocked to learn about the death of a classmate. "I felt sad, and all the kids in the building were crying," said one student. Police said Gabrielle Molina, 12, hanged herself in her bedroom Wednesday. They said Molina left a suicide note in which the seventh grader mentioned being bullied online. "I don't understand why anybody would try to bully her, because she was actually a sweet girl," said one of her classmates. "She actually let everybody in."
Now, detectives are checking to see who she may have let in on the Internet. "The detectives have taken two computers from the home, and they're being analyzed, will shortly be analyzed," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "Terrible, terrible tragedy." Social worker Thomas Meyers of The Child Center of New York said that the New York City Department of Education asked his nonprofit organization to visit the school Thursday. "We just spent a few minutes in each classroom, trying to get a sense of how many were distraught to the point that they need counseling, and we made opportunity to come back tomorrow and next week.
Classmates said they didn't recall signs of Molina being unhappy. "She was always happy," said one. "She never showed that she was upset or anything," said another. Some parents said they felt the school should have been more vigilant. "They could be a little more supervised," said one. "And the kids that come here, they're not the easiest kids around." Another student NY1 spoke with said she was bullied on Facebook last year, but it stopped when she reached out to a guidance counselor. "This is the new age now," said one parent. "Our children going to school, and they're bullied on the Internet, they're bullied in the school. It's so horrific."
After Molina's death, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said addressing bullying in city schools and online is a priority for him. Parents said the tragedy also reminded them that it's their responsibility to keep tabs on what their children are doing on the computer.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/182621/police-investigate-if-cyberbullying-led-to-queens-girl-s-suicide