Via NewsPress.
A “bullied” student dressed as Batman villain Two-Face killed himself with a handgun today inside a Stillwater, Oklahoma, junior high school.
The victim has been identified as Cade Poulos, 13, according to the NewsPress.
“I saw him on the ground,” Aaron Veselak told the NewsPress. “There was blood all around his head.”
It was Superhero Dressup Day at Stillwater Junior High, and Poulos came as Two-Face, according to KOKO.
The tragedy occurred in “The Pit,” a common area in front of the school library.
Local police Capt. Randy Dickerson said a school cop heard a gunshot and discovered the body before classes started. The school locked down and cancelled classes.
Ninth-grader Logan Fleisher told the NewsPress: “It was 7:58 a.m. when they called over the PA system. They said go to the nearest classroom, turn out the lights and lock the door.”
School superintendent Ann Caine sent a letter to parents:
It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of a tragic incident at our JH this morning. At 7:50 am one of our students died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. All other students and staff are safe. The JH is currently in lockdown and closed for the day. We are busing the JH students to Cimarron Plaza to be picked up by their parents. Skyline was on temporary lockdown but is now open. All of our schools, with the exception of the JH, are open today. We have sent counselors to Cimarron to be available to our students. We have not released the name of the student, pending notification of next of kin.
“Everyone thought it was a joke at first,” ninth-grader Ashlyn Lundholm told the NewsPress. “Then, I heard people screaming.”
A Facebook page in Poulos’ memory already had 5,000 likes by early afternoon. The first post by the page’s administrator suggests bullying led to the tragedy:
