An 8-year-old Cincinnati boy committed suicide in January just two days after he was bullied at school, attorneys for the boy's mother said.
Surveillance footage at the school shows Gabriel Taye being knocked unconscious by another student, attorneys said, according to CBS News. Taye remained in the bathroom unconscious for several minutes until he was found by an assistant principal and school nurse.
Taye took his own life while at his home on Jan. 26, but his mother didn’t become aware of the bullying incident until much later, CBS said.
The school initially told her that Taye had fainted while in the bathroom, CBS affiliate WKRC-TV noted.
The night of the bullying incident, Taye reportedly became sick, vomiting a few times before his mother took him to the hospital to be treated. The hospital said Taye might have had the flu.
The boy's mother hired attorney Jennifer Branch to investigate what happened at Carson Elementary School the day Taye went unconscious, according to Fox 19 Now.
"Mom is really heartbroken that she didn’t know what she needed to know to protect her son," Branch said, according to the station.
Branch said surveillance footage shows a student "camping out" in the bathroom where the incident took place. When Taye entered the restroom, the student attacked him, "hitting" and "threatening" him, Fox 19 Now reported.
"He ends up on the floor, unconscious for seven and a half minutes," Branch told the station, adding that Taye missed school the next day, but returned on the Jan. 26, the same day his mom "found him [dead] in his bedroom" a few hours after he had gotten home from school.
Now, the mother wants answers as to why this all happened.
"Maybe this had been going on for years, and she had no idea, so she couldn’t help him," Branch said, according to Fox 19 Now. "She couldn’t protect him, and now she wants to know what was really going on."
A family friend issued a statement about Taye to Fox 19 Now.
"He was a shining light to everyone who knew and loved him. We miss him desperately and suffer every day without him. His life was stolen not only from him, but from those of us who expected to watch him grow up," the statement said.
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