Preteen suicide, mental health among concerns in school

Preteen suicides, like that of a 9-year-old Denver boy last week, remain rare. But as their numbers rise, they’re getting new attention from researchers.

Jamel Myles died Thursday of suicide, the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner said Monday. His mother said on Facebook that he had been bullied by classmates.

“Please we are all the different and thats what makes us the same because we all have 1 thing in common we’re all different thats what makes this world beautiful,” Leia Pierce wrote in the post. “I want justice for my son and every kid who is bullied.. I want bullying to end I never want to hear someone else go thru this pain,” Leia Pierce wrote in her public Facebook post.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the teen suicide rate rose by more than 70 percent between 2006 and 2016.

Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death for elementary school-aged children in 2014, the CDC reported. The death rate among 10- to 14-year-olds more than doubled from 0.9 per 100,000 in 2007 to 2.1 per 100,000 in 2014.