An eight-year-old New Jersey girl took her own life after reportedly reading a story on Facebook about a Colorado girl who hanged herself in November.
Imani McCray had been sent to her room for a time out just before the suicide attempt.
Authorities said her family members tried to revive her before medics arrived.
Emergency crews were called to her family’s apartment building in Newark around 1.40pm on Sunday.
Eight-year-old, mani McCray (left and right) took her own life after reportedly reading a story about a Colorado girl who hanged herself in November
Imani had a faint pulse when paramedics arrived, but prosecutors said she was pronounced dead at the University Hospital in Newark
Emergency crews were called to her family’s apartment building (pictured) in Newark around 1.40pm on Sunday
Imani had a faint pulse when paramedics arrived, but prosecutors said she was pronounced dead at the University Hospital in Newark, according to NBC New York.
Essex County prosecutors said they are trying to determine if Imani may have seen the story about 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis, who hanged herself in November, and copied what she had read.
Prosecutors also said Imani may have hanged herself in a case of tragic playacting at her home, according to NBC.
Imani would have turned nine years old next week. Her death comes a little over a week after Ashawnty was taken off life support.
Ashawnty died two weeks after she hanged herself because a video of her being bullied was posted on social media.
‘It’s just devastating,’ her father, Anthony Davis, told KDVR-TV. ‘She was just a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone.’
In late October, Ashawnty, a fifth-grade student at Sunrise Elementary in Aurora, was involved in a fight after school.
It was recorded by another student, who then sent the footage to an app called Musical.ly.
Essex County prosecutors said they are trying to determine if Imani may have seen the story about 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis (pictured), who hanged herself in November, and copied what she had read
Imani would have turned nine years old next week. Her death comes a little over a week after Ashawnty (pictured) was taken off life support. Ashawnty died two weeks after she hanged herself because a video of her being bullied was posted on social media
In the video, Ashawnty and another girl are seen fighting as a group of kids gathered around to watch. Ashawnty’s mother, Latoshia Harris, says that her daughter confronted a girl who was bullying her. It was recorded by a student and sent to an app called Musical.ly
Two weeks after the clip of the fight was posted to social media, Ashawnty hanged herself in a closet. She then spent another two weeks on life support at Children’s Hospital Colorado
In the video, Ashawnty and another girl are seen fighting as a group of kids gathered around to watch.
Ashawnty’s mother, Latoshia Harris, said that her daughter confronted a girl who was bullying her. ‘I saw my daughter was scared,’ Harris said.
Harris and Davis showed the clip to KDVR-TV which broadcast parts of it – though the children’s images were muzzed.
‘She was devastated when she found out that it had made it to Musical.ly,’ Davis said.
After the clip was posted to Musical.ly, Ashawnty was subjected to frequent teasing and bullying at school, according to her parents.
They said that the abuse their daughter took turned her into a different person. Ashawnty could no longer live with the shame.
‘My daughter came home two weeks later and hanged herself in the closet,’ Harris said.
Harris and Davis are urging other parents to be on the lookout for signs of ‘bullycide’ – or when a child is driven to suicide because of bullying.
‘We have to stop it and we have to stop it within our kids,’ Davis said.
‘I want other parents to know that it’s happening,’ Harris said. ‘That was my baby and I love my baby and I just want mothers to listen.’
‘It’s just devastating,’ her father, Anthony Davis (left, with her mother Latoshia Harris), told KDVR-TV. ‘She was just a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone’
Imani was taken off life support at Children’s Hospital Colorado following her suicide attempt.
Authorities said that there is no indication that Imani was bullied. Imani’s family is making funeral arrangements.
The tragic deaths of Imani and Ashawnty are reminders that more than 3.2 million students who fall victim to bullying each year.
About 17 per cent of American students report being bullied two to three times a month or more within a school semester.
Stand up against bullying by visiting StopBullying.gov to learn more about what you can do.
SOCIAL MEDIA BLAMED FOR INCREASE IN TEEN SUICIDES IN US
The image above is a stock photo of a sad teen checking her phone while sitting on the floor. The person depicted has no connection to anyone mentioned in this article
Social media use may have driven the increase in suicide rates among US teens, a new analysis suggests.
Suicide rates for teens rose steadily between 2010 and 2015 despite two decades of decline, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A new analysis by San Diego University shows that, while we cannot know for certain, there is a distinct correlation between suicide rates and the surge in social media use.
They lay bare how the boom in cyberbullying, and social media posts depicting ‘perfect’ lives may be taking a toll on teens’ mental health, has mirrored a spike in depression among young people.
The report comes just months after the same team show a spike in Google searches for ‘how to commit suicide’ after the release of Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, which controversially depicted a teen girl’s depression and eventual suicide.
‘After hours of scrolling through Instagram feeds, I just feel worse about myself because I feel left out,’ said Caitlin Hearty, a 17-year-old Littleton, Colorado, high school senior who helped organize an offline campaign last month after several local teen suicides.
‘No one posts the bad things they’re going through,’ said Chloe Schilling, also 17, who helped with the campaign, in which hundreds of teens agreed not to use the internet or social media for one month.
The study’s authors looked at CDC suicide reports from 2009-15 and results of two surveys given to U.S. high school students to measure attitudes, behaviors and interests. About half a million teens ages 13 to 18 were involved.
They were asked about use of electronic devices, social media, print media, television and time spent with friends. Questions about mood included frequency of feeling hopeless and considering or attempting suicide.
The researchers didn’t examine circumstances surrounding individual suicides. Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said the study provides weak evidence for a popular theory and that many factors influence teen suicide.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
Source: Associated Press