An 11 year old boy, Tysen Benz, who had attempted suicide in March, passed away the week of April 3 with injuries from his attempt. There was no note or message left; however, his mother, Katrina Goss, discovered his attempt was all because of a prank by a girl. A 13 year old girl, whom the boy presumed to be his “girlfriend”, pulled a prank saying she had committed suicide herself. After Tysen received text messages about this incident, he took his own life.
CNN reporter, Evan Simko-Bednarski, said, “Benz was the middle child in a family of three boys. Goss described her son as “selfless to a fault”. She said, “He was an avid athlete who played soccer, hockey and golf.”
The 13 year old girl, whose name is not mentioned, has been charged with malicious use of telecommunication services and usage of a computer to commit a crime for sending false reports of her own death.
Tysen Benz’s mom believed there should have been stronger charges, but with the circumstances, the facts would not support further charges. Although there is no direct proof that Tysen’s suicide attempt was directly related to the 13 year old girls prank, investigators said the connection was very logical according to the text messages.
Julia Said, ‘17, said, “I cannot imagine joking around about suicide or depression in any manner and I sure hope others feel the same way. Someone who feels like the world is so dark that they cannot stand to live their beautiful life could never be funny. It’s a mental illness and it’s so much more serious than we can even comprehend.”
This incident has brought attention to many people around the world. Joking about suicidal thoughts and mental illnesses never fail to uproar major problems.
“I think our generation often uses terms ‘depressed’ or ‘suicidal’ far too often without truly understanding how serious and detrimental those words can be. When we feel sad we say ‘I feel depressed’, or ‘I want to kill myself’. We shouldn’t use that terminology without fully understanding the true definition of depressed or suicidal,” said Said, ‘17.
