Stillwater junior high student arrives at school, commits suicide

http://www.stwnewspress.com/local/x1241971012/12-24-UPDATE-Stillwater-police-identify-Stillwater-Junior-High-School-shooting-victim-as-Cade-Poulos-13

Oklahoma has had a bit of this lately. Stigler High School football player killed himself last Friday. Coaches learned of it early in Friday's game. If there wasn't a panic before hand that the top receiver was missing, something tells me he might have been ineligible due to grades. Still, this shit happens too much.

 

And yet, at the same time, I am sitting here in California wondering why the suicide of a junior high school student in Oklahoma is national news. (Not just because you posted it here, I also saw it flash as an AP headline on my local paper's website.)

Even more than hyping up any shooting in a public place, I wonder if the breathless reporting of suicides fosters more suicides.

 

I understand your point. This shit tends to inspire copy cat stuff. But we're drama queens it seems. And we amp it up by making other students part of that news and talk about securing the building, letting out classes. No one was in danger other than the perpetrator.

The Stigler deal comes like two months after another starter on offense was killed in a single-car accident.

 

Yes. Big time.

 

Blame AP. Websites all over the damn country pick up whatever is fed AP.

 

Those bastards keep sending stories all over the world!

 

Our son is 12. I cannot imagine what the parents/family/friends must be going through.

 

I suspect it is because it initially came out as a shooting at a junior high. It had already been reported before anyone knew it was self-inflicted.

I certainly would report on it if it was local, but would not (and did not) cover a school suicide in another area.

 

I saw a report earlier today that suicide has replaced auto crashes as the leading cause of injury among adolescents. Maybe kids are becoming desensitized.

 

Probably more attributable to cars being much safer these days.