Town Tragedy

From my local newspaper....

A 15-year-old boy shot himself to death on the front steps of [the] High School about 11 p.m. last night.

Police said the boy, a [...] Street resident, had been having problems with his girlfriend. Shortly after 10 p.m., he fired two shotgun rounds outside of the girl’s home on [...] Street, a few blocks from the school.

As reports of the gunshots came into the station, police started an intense search for the boy, which ended when officer Daniel McCarthy found his body at the bottom of the school’s steps about an hour later. He was found lying on his back, a long shotgun resting on his chest.

The boy’s parents stood just feet away, hugging each other and crying, as several police officers quietly stood around the steps and watched paramedics checking the boy for any sign of life.

Police, saying they were still trying to piece together what happened, were not releasing the boy’s identity last night.

The boy had taken the shotgun from his brother, who reported the weapon missing, said Sgt. Thomas Cappelluzzo.

After firing two shots into the air outside of his girlfriend’s home, the boy apparently walked toward the high school. Police believe he fired two more shots on Carter Street, off High Street, before he headed up the hill to the front steps of the school.

The boy’s father had joined police in the search after the first shots had been fired, and was out looking for his son in the neighborhood while police were positioning themselves in a perimeter around the area. Officers from neighboring towns, including a dog unit from Amesbury, were called to assist.

Cappelluzzo said officers out looking for the boy were not aware of the possibility of suicide.

I didn’t know the boy, the lad only knew him by sight, but does that matter? When I heard this story it was like a knife slicing through my heart. The students at the High School are distraught as well. It is a very gray day here in our town.