The "Blue Whale Challenge," a dangerous online game, is being blamed for the death of a 15-year-old Texas boy, who allegedly committed suicide after becoming involved in the dare.
Isaiah Gonzalez of San Antonio reportedly fell victim to the social media challenge, which encourages teens to perform tasks to harm themselves. Family members reportedly discovered his body early on Saturday morning, noted News 4 San Antonio.
Isaiah Gonlalez's mother and father, Angela and Jorge Gonzalez, said their son was about to start his sophomore year at Southside High School when he committed suicide.
"Every day he was always making everybody smile,” Angela Gonzalez told News 4 San Antonio.
Isaiah Gonzalez's family members believe his death was a direct result to of "The Blue Whale Challenge."
Speaking about the incident, Jorge Gonzalez told KSAT that their daughter, Alexis Gonzalez, had found her brother's body and called her parents to tell them he was dead.
"When she found him, she found a shoe box with his shoe on top, with a phone laying inside to view what he was doing," Jorge Gonzalez told the news channel. "Two weeks prior to that I was at work and I was on Facebook when I noticed that Blue Whale Challenge. As soon as I got home, I told my wife to prepare dinner and have the kids come eat with us downstairs. I asked them if they knew anything about that and they said, 'I've heard of it.' I told him, 'Son, don't ever do that,' and he told me, 'Dad, I'm not that stupid to do it. Instead of me going through his social media and looking at it, I trusted him.'"
The Baldwin County Public Schools in Alabama recently posted information about the challenge on their Facebook page.
According to the school's social worker, the game, which originated from Russia, challenges participants to harm themselves in a series of dares over 50 days.
"It is basically a challenge to harm yourself for 50 days, with the intention being to ultimately kill yourself on the 50th day," the school district said on Facebook. "Teenagers supposedly 'tag' each other on social media (Snapchat primarily) and challenge them to play. The student then downloads the Blue Whale app, which hacks into their personal information and cannot be deleted. The app originators then threaten the teenagers with harm to their families or releasing of personal information until they kill themselves."
Isaiah Gonzalez's family members are warning parents to be vigilant about this challenge and have reached out to other parents concerned about their own children.