Boy, 13, bullied, shoots himself

noZme

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Sylvester GA, 13 yr old, Dustin Hammonds was taken off life support at Eggleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta. He was pronounced dead at 2:44PM.

He'd been hospitalized since last Tuesday when he shot himself at his home in rural Worth County. Dustin's family is now making arrangements for his organs to be donated.

Friends of the family say Dustin was the victim of bullying and they've launched a campaign to raise awareness to the problem. A Justice for Dustin candlelight vigil will be held Tuesday night in Sylvester.

There will be a celebration of his life on Wednesday.

http://www.walb.com/story/24235060/worth-co-students-death-raises-awareness-about-bullying

http://www.walb.com/story/24233997/...r&utm_content=buffer66f55&utm_medium=facebook

http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=983999#.UrB9QPRDuAg


http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=983200#.UrB9ifRDuAg:
According to those close to the family, Dustin Hammonds is an eighth grader in Worth County who was being bullied for some time.

The family claims they contacted the school system about the problem with no results.

The Worth County School System issued the following statement Friday afternoon:

The Worth County School System is aware of a recent incident involving a middle school student and of accusations in the community that bullying has played a role in an unfortunate tragedy. The Worth County School System takes such accusations seriously, and immediately began investigating the veracity of those accusations. We share the concerns of our community, and have invited the Sylvester Police Department to assist with the investigation. Because this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment on specifics at this time. Our foremost concern is with the health and safety of our students, teachers, and staff.


I think I found Dustin on social media. He loved Leggos, computer games & the Georgia Bulldogs.
 
Toooo

Many

Of

THESE

STORIES!!!

:( :( :( (yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my friend's son doing the same, he was 16. She'd fought the school system for 8 plus years!!!)
 
I am so sorry LookingHoping. I cannot imagine that pain.
 
I'm sorry for her... and his siblings... most of all for him. Can you even imagine how horribly scared, powerless and alone these kids must feel inside to actually go through with this. Something needs to change and STAT. The systems that are in place are NOT working, in fact, I think they are making it much much worse. Nobody can stand up for themselves, nobody can stand up for their friends. It is making more bullies and making bullying silent and unseen. That is a dangerous place to be in this fight to stop it.
 
We also need to stop saying things like "High school years are the best years of your life!"

Not that it's causing this, but I seriously think that every time I see a story like this. High school was most certainly NOT the best years of my life.
 
This is so sad. I have a 13 year old son. Last year, he came home crying one day and told us that a certain kid was slamming him into lockers, and when the gym teacher wasn't looking, the kid would hit him in the face.

My son is a gentle person who has NEVER deliberately hurt another person. Would never do it. It's as if this other kid could sense that my kid wouldn't fight back (I even suggested it to my son; he's taken karate. I said if he fought back, I'd back him up, whether or not the school did. But he just doesn't want to hurt people.)

SOOO, I went to the school and raised bloody hell. Lucky for us they had recently settled a bullying suit and took ACTION quickly. I named names, they talked to the kid and it STOPPED.

Fact is: schools can change this. They really can. They're afraid of taking sides and maybe taking the wrong side, or something. But if the parents of bullied children gather together and form a kind of aggressive force, changes can happen.
 
Maggie, that's my experience with schools also. I'm glad you were able to stop the behavior of the bully.

In my experience also, when the bullying is clear and obvious - one child is attacking another without any provocation whatsoever - it's pretty easy to stop if the school tries to.

What often goes unresolved are bullying issues between kids who have an ongoing conflict or where there is continuing provocation that goes between the two or more kids.

But my experience is the same as yours - in cases where there is a clear bully/victim situation, it's pretty easy to stop and schools are usually motivated to stop it. In cases where there is squabbling that goes on and on and escalates, it's so hard to unravel who is at fault and very hard to stop because both parties are invested in keeping it going.
 
Dustin was a very close friend of mine it is now what would have been our senior year. Its very hard some days to think back to the memories he and i had. When we were younger we would Skype and play Minecraft or even just watch the Transformers movies. We were in band together all of 7th and 8th grade, we both reported on a constant the instance of the bullying. It is sad that the WCSS still will not admit that they were in the wrong for not helping him. Students today still do not see the effects that bullying has on others. I will continue to fight for justice for my best friend. It has now been 4 years since he died and March his birthday will pass another really hard day for me... I hope everyone that reads Dustins story understands how everything effects someone in someway.




Sylvester GA, 13 yr old, Dustin Hammonds was taken off life support at Eggleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta. He was pronounced dead at 2:44PM.

He'd been hospitalized since last Tuesday when he shot himself at his home in rural Worth County. Dustin's family is now making arrangements for his organs to be donated.

Friends of the family say Dustin was the victim of bullying and they've launched a campaign to raise awareness to the problem. A Justice for Dustin candlelight vigil will be held Tuesday night in Sylvester.

There will be a celebration of his life on Wednesday.

http://www.walb.com/story/24235060/worth-co-students-death-raises-awareness-about-bullying

http://www.walb.com/story/24233997/...r&utm_content=buffer66f55&utm_medium=facebook

http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=983999#.UrB9QPRDuAg


http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=983200#.UrB9ifRDuAg:
According to those close to the family, Dustin Hammonds is an eighth grader in Worth County who was being bullied for some time.

The family claims they contacted the school system about the problem with no results.

The Worth County School System issued the following statement Friday afternoon:

The Worth County School System is aware of a recent incident involving a middle school student and of accusations in the community that bullying has played a role in an unfortunate tragedy. The Worth County School System takes such accusations seriously, and immediately began investigating the veracity of those accusations. We share the concerns of our community, and have invited the Sylvester Police Department to assist with the investigation. Because this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment on specifics at this time. Our foremost concern is with the health and safety of our students, teachers, and staff.


I think I found Dustin on social media. He loved Leggos, computer games & the Georgia Bulldogs.
 

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