This is a Follow-Up to Rico's Very Disturbing Diary from last night. In summary, it's a diary to promote a News Conference to be held tomorrow in Ontario, CA, where a grieving mother will speak out on the death of her son, who had helped organize a "walkout" at his Middle School.
Here's an excerpt from the Press Release that Rico posted:
Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the March 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthony's truancy and participation in the student protests. [emphasis mine]
The reason I'm posting this diary today is that none of my fellow Kossacks were able to confirm the details surrounding Anthony's death, or even the death itself. No Newspaper articles, no mention on other websites, not even an obituary....Nothing...Nada...Zip!
Rico took one Hell of a bashing, from some folks, for posting a diary without facts...Despite having verbally confirmed with both the church and Anthony's Family Spokesperson.
Well, Rico is now officially vindicated...Partially, at least.
I just spoke to the Watch Commander of the Ontario, CA Police Dept. His first words were "Is this about the 14 year old kid?" It was. Seems there was some confusion on who the Public Information Officer (PIO) On-Call was. I now have the RIGHT contact person, and am awaiting a callback. I'm not holding my breath though...The Watch Commander tells me the guy is SWAMPED over this story.
HOWEVER, the Watch Commander DID CONFIRM that a 14 year old male did, in fact, commit suicide last week in their town. Unfortunately, that's all the information he had available. But he promised me that the PIO would call me back with more details...eventually. In the meantime I wanted to get what I knew out to you all.
NOTE: PLEASE do not call the Ontario Police! They are SWAMPED with this and other situations. I promise I will update this diary the minute I hear something.
While we are waiting, I ask you all to observe a moment of silence for this young man and his family, as they deal with this senseless tragedy.
Update #1: OK, this is just spooky! I did a Search just to make double sure I wasn't posting a duplicate diary. The search came up with a Diary posted by Tony Soltero. It doesn't appear to be the young man in question, but still a bit ominous.....
Update #2: Just spoke to Ontario PD's On-Call PIO (Thanks Officer Higbee!) He confirms that Anthony Soltero was the youth who committed suicide, and that the dates are correct. The incident occurred in the boy's home, not at school.
Unfortunately, that's about all of the information he had. He was completely unaware of the allegations against the school official, and became (rightfully so) concerned about potential repercussions if the allegations are indeed true. He sounded very sincere in his concerns, and I suspect he is already following up as I type this update.