A Colorado boy took his own life during the first week of school, and his mother says bullying is to blame.
The 9-year-old committed suicide just days after telling his classmates he was gay.
Jamel Myles started fourth grade at Joe Schomaker School on Monday.
"He was my sunshine because he was my only son,” said Jamel’s mother Leia Pierce said.
Weeks before, he told his mother he was gay.
"And he looked so scared when he told me,” Pierce said. “He was like Mom I'm gay. And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, I still love you."
"He went to school and said he was gonna tell people he's gay because he's proud of himself,” she also said.
But on Thursday, Pierce found her son dead in their Denver home. She said he killed himself after being bullied.
"Four days is all it took at school. I could just imagine what they said to him. My son told my oldest daughter the kids at school told him to kill himself. I'm just sad he didn't come to me,” Pierce said.
A letter from Denver Public Schools to families says they’re providing extra social workers and their crisis team for students.
In a statement, the district also says it will continue to offer support to the family.
"I'm so upset that he thought that was his option,” Pierce said.
Pierce wants to spread awareness about the effects of bullying through this devastation.
"We should have accountability for bullying,” she said. “I think the child should. Because the child knows it's wrong. The child wouldn't want someone to do it to them. I think the parent should be held because obviously the parents are either teaching them to be like that, or they're treating them like that."
Pierce hopes no parent ever has to go through this pain, because their child is different from everyone else.
