An 8-year-old boy took his own life just days after being brutally assaulted by bullies.
Two days before taking his own life, Gabriel Taye was assaulted by a classmate in a restroom at Carson Elementary School. The incident occurred on January 24. Cincinnati Public Schools has now released the video of the assault, which shows Taye being punched, pulled to the ground and beaten by a classmate. He was knocked unconscious for over five minutes as other students prod him, stepped over his body and ridiculed him. Eventually, school officials came to his aide, however, they neglected to tell his parents that he was assaulted.
Gabriel’s mother, Cornelia Reynolds, picked her son up from school after being told by school administrators that he had fainted, but was now alert. She was asked to take him to the hospital, according to the school, however, Reynolds says that she was not told to take Gabriel to the hospital and only did so afterher sister, who was babysitting Gabriel while was at work, called to say Gabriel had vomited and was complaining of stomach pains. When Reynolds picked Gabriel up from school, she says he had no recollection of what had happened that day.
Two days later, Gabriel Taye committed suicide by hanging himself in his bedroom with a necktie.
Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco reopened the investigation into the 8-year-old’s suicide, asking the police to treat the incident ‘as a homicide until proven otherwise.’
“It was very hard for me to believe that an 8-year-old would even know what it means to commit suicide,” Sammarco told WLW-TV, revealing that she is currently investigating whether there were contributing factors to Gabriel’s suicide.
