…her friendship with a boy.
“She was being bullied the entire school year, with words such as ‘kill yourself,’ ‘you think you’re white because you ride with that white boy,’ ‘you ugly,’ ‘Black b-tch,’ ‘just die’,” her Aunt, Eddwina Harris said.
On a Monday night, McKenzie, a bright student who dreamed of being a scientist, did her homework as she usually did, and then excused herself to the bathroom, Harris told People. Her grandmother noticed that she had been gone longer than usual and went to go find her, only to find the bathroom door locked.
Harris says that McKenzie’s grandmother got a butter knife and managed to unlock the door and found the little girl. McKenzie’s grandmother managed to call 911, and respondents performed CPR, however, McKenzie ultimately died at Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital.
Phillip Spruill, a handsome 11-year old older brother from Philadelphia, committed suicide apparently after being bullied repeatedly for months by his classmates. The fifth grader, who was targeted by bullies because of his weight, took his own life with a belt wrapped around his neck twice. A horrifying sight when his mother found him earlier this month.
“He was a very sensitive little boy. He loved to laugh. He loved to play. He wanted to make friends with everybody he saw. He was a very kind little boy,” Phillip’s grandmother, Linda Lash-Smith said.
Six-year-old Minnesota born Kendrea Johnson was found hanging from a jump rope in what many believe to be an apparent suicide.
On Johnson’s body was found a note that she left after the incident with the words, “I’m sorry.” Another note stated, “I’m sad for what I do.”
At a June 2014 exam, Kendrea had been assessed as having homicidal and suicidal thoughts, and she had been receiving intensive treatment, according to the police reports. The exam noted that the girl “showed severe guilt, as she does not feel lovable or acceptable and reports feeling guilty and responsible for out-of-home placement.”
Kendrea was placed in foster care in December 2013 after Hennepin County child protection accused her mother of abusing drugs and not following through with a plan to keep her children safe.
Records show that Kendrea’s behavior changed dramatically in foster care. Her most recent foster mother told Brooklyn Park police that the girl once threatened to kill her with a screwdriver. Kendrea also told her foster mother that she wanted to jump out a window and kill herself, said “Nobody likes me” and drew pictures at school of a child hanging from a rope. Police found healed ligature marks on both sides of her neck, records show.