A 10-year-old boy in Texas committed suicide after enduring “relentless” bullying, according to his mother. Kevin Reese Jr. was described as a fun-loving “goofy” little boy who enjoyed drawing and painting, but felt “backed into a corner” by school bullies.
“I never thought he would go this far,” his mother Crystal Smith told Houston’s ABC affiliate KTRK. “I’m still in disbelief and it’s taking me a while to actually accept the fact that this happened.”
The fifth grader, who attended Robinson Elementary School near Houston, committed suicide on Jan. 21. “He just had enough and he felt that he was backed into a corner,” said Smith.
The boy’s 13-year-old sister discovered him hanging in his closet inside the family home. Smith was out of town for work when she received a frantic call from her daughter. Kevin’s stepfather was on his way home from work at the time.
Smith and her husband were unaware of the severity of Kevin’s struggles. The bullies apparently wrote, “kill yourself, you don’t belong here,” on his tablet, and one boy attacked him last November, his mother said. “He came home crying because he didn’t fight back and one of the boys punched him several times coming from recess.”
In the past year, 26 Houston-area children have committed suicide, with Kevin being the youngest among the group of tragedies. The story is the latest among a growing number of child suicides that have been recently reported.
Although Smith reached out to the school about the bullying, the school district initially claimed that “no allegations or evidence of bullying were reported” through the “Cy-fair Tipline associated with the student’s death.” The district later admitted that Smith had spoken with a school administrator after they were presented with proof of correspondence.
Smith contacted the school after Kevin’s suicide but was told that they “never found any bullying going on,” and that the boy accused of punching her son denied the altercation.
The grieving mom is still searching for “answers” about what happened to her son. She also shared some advice for parents who may be in a similar situation. “Pay attention to your child, don’t assume that things are handled at the school, stay on top of it until you see something come out on the end.”
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