RIP! :'(
A heartbroken mother shared a photograph of her 12-year-old son in his coffin after he suicided because of being bullied for his sexuality.
Photo via Facebook
Andrew Michael Leach, the 12-year-old sixth grader, hanged himself in his dad's garage in Southaven, Mississippi, last week and discovered by his 15-year-old brother.
A suicide note shows that he had the will to death since the bullying at Southaven Middle School intensified. The bullies told him he wouldn't "make it out" of a school bathroom.
Andrew's father, Matt Leach, had told the news media that his son was tormented after he came out as bisexual.
Photo via Facebook
Photo via Facebook
"He was struggling a lot internally with sexual orientation," the father said. "He finally came out with the information at school that he thought he may be bisexual. I think that really amped up the bullying."
The family shares the photo as they want those tormentors to understand the effect on victims.
Photo via Facebook
Photo via Facebook
His mother Cheryl Hudson told the media that her son left a few different notes showing he had been thinking of suicide for quite some time.
Cheryl said she sought help from his school to talk to his teachers but said she didn't feel like the school did much about it.
"The school that he went to has got an abundance of bullying. The kids can't even go to the bathroom without fear," she said. "From what we are hearing, there was a group of kids that would go around calling him fat, ugly and worthless."
The mother has mentioned a few alleged bullying cases in the interview.
Photo via Facebook
Photo via Facebook
School officials reply to the incident said bullying allegations were treated with utmost importance and they did go into details about Andrew's case. And the rest alleged bullies are being investigated by police.
The family has set up GoFundMe campaign for Andrew's memory and now raised more than $13,200.
CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself.
At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said. This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years.
Hundreds gathered on Thursday evening at the main square in Cetinje for a candlelight vigil in the memory of the victims.
Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović described Wednesday’s shooting as “one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Montenegro.”
He said at a news conference that the victims included seven men, three women and two children, born in 2011 and 2016.
“Most of the victims were people he knew, his closest friends and relatives,” including the shooter’s sister, Šćepanović said. “This criminal act wasn’t planned or organized. It was unpredictable.”
The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Aco Martinović, killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner's children and his own family members, officials have said.
The attacker, who first fled after the rampage, was later located and surrounded by police. He died after shooting himself in the head, police said.
Residents of Cetinje, a town of some 17,000 people, were stunned and grief-stricken.
"I knew all of these people personally, also the attacker. I think when he did that, he was out of his mind," said Vesko Milošević, a retiree from Cetnje. "What do I know, he went from place to place and killed people. Its a catastrophe.”
Vanja Popović, whose relatives are among the victims, said that “we are all in shock.”
“How can I feel after this?" Popović said. "No one expected it. You can’t even ask anyone anything.”
Police had dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town, which is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Podgorica, the country's capital. All roads in and out of Cetinje were blocked for hours as police swarmed the streets.
Police said that the shooter had died while being taken to a hospital in the capital and succumbed from the “severity of his injuries.”
Officials have said that the attacker was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted. He then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5:30 p.m.
Prosecutor Andrijana Nastić said Thursday that the attacker went to six locations during the shooting rampage, including the last one, where he shot himself.
Four men were killed at the bar, she said. The shooter then moved on to another location where he killed four more people, and then two children at a third site. He then went on to kill two more people at two other locations before eventually shooting himself, Nastić said.
“Further investigation will determine the exact circumstances of the events,” she added.
The government has declared three days of national mourning starting on Thursday, and all planned New Year's festivities have been canceled throughout the country.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said that the government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro.”
The small Adriatic Sea nation, which has a population of around 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.
In August 2022 in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.
Police have said that the suspect in Wednesday's shooting received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession. Montenegrin media have reported that he was known for erratic and violent behavior.
“Instead of holiday joy ... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Montenegro's President Jakov Milatović said in a post on X.
Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dušan Stojanović contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.
A view of blood by the door of a bar after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A police car outside a house after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A view of a bar after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A view of a police vehicle at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A view of a police vehicle at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police officers stand guard at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police officers stand guard at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A police officer stands guard at the scene after a shooting incident at a bar, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Rescue workers work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
