A second survivor of the Parkland shooting has died by an “apparent suicide,” as reported by the Miami Herald. The student, who died on Saturday night, has not been publicly identified, though it’s been clarified by Coral Springs Police that the student was a male sophomore.
“As of now it’s an apparent suicide,” Coral Springs Police spokesman Tyler Reik explained to People in an interview. “We are conducting an investigation and the cause of death hasn’t been officially confirmed yet.”
This loss comes roughly one week after Sydney Aiello's death. Aiello, a former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, died by suicide last Sunday. In an interview with WFOR, a CNN affiliate, Aiello's mother said that her daughter lived with survivor's guilt and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder prior to her death. Aiello’s best friend, Meadow Pollack, was one of the 17 people killed in the mass shooting on February 14, 2018.
To reiterate: The circumstances of the second survivor's suicide are not yet known, meaning it's possible their death has a connection to the massacre, but it's also possible that it's unrelated.
Still, suicide is a serious public health issue. In response to these two losses, more than 60 school, city, county, and law enforcement officials and child services specialists came together for an emergency meeting to figure out how to take appropriate action. They want to find the right way to address mental health issues, alongside teachers and parents.
Ryan Petty, Alaina Petty’s father, said, “They will be asking parents to take this issue seriously. Parents cannot be afraid to ask their kids the tough questions,” reports the Miami Herald. Alaina, then a 14-year-old freshman, was one of those killed during the Parkland massacre. He went on to share that the school district will direct parents to the Columbia Protocol, basically a series of six questions that parents can ask children in order to determine if they need therapy or emergency resources.
Jared Moskowitz, Florida’s emergency management director and a former state representative from Parkland, tweeted:
David Hogg, Parkland survivor and gun-safety activist, tweeted:
Hillary Clinton also added to the conversation on Twitter:
Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida tweeted:
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie stressed the importance of talking about mental health and suicide. “During the spring break, I encourage you to take time to speak with your children every day. Dinners are a great time for family conversation,” he told parents. “We need to remove the stigma from talking about suicide.”
He also tweeted about the recent loss:
Globally, almost 1 million people die by suicide each year. To put this into perspective, suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death across all ages. When looking at PTSD in particular, people with the diagnosis have 5.3 times the rate of death by suicide than people living without PTSD.
Thoughts and prayers clearly aren’t doing the trick when it comes to gun violence, mental health, or just about anything. But conversations about mental health and suicide can, at the least, help shatter the stigma.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255.