Devastating news has emerged from Texas, US this evening, after a teenage girl shot and killed herself in front of her family.
Brandy Vela, 18, died from a gunshot wound on Tuesday, in her home, as desperate family members pleaded with her to put the weapon down.
She was rushed to hospital for treatment but, sadly, she succumbed to her wounds.
The teen, a student at Texas City Independent School, is said to have been mercilessly bullied by online trolls in the lead-up to the tragedy.
It was Brandy’s older sister, Jacqueline, who first raised the alarm after receiving a concerning text from the teen.
The message reportedly read: “I love you so much, just remember that, please, and I’m so sorry for everything”.
Jacqueline rushed over to the family home, where she found Brandy standing against a wall in her bedroom, holding a gun against her chest.
Other family members arrived on the scene but, sadly, their efforts to comfort Brandy did not work.
Describing the kind of abuse Brandy was living with from day to day, Jacqueline told local media: “They would make dating websites of her, and they would put her number, and they would put her picture and lie about her age and say she is giving herself up for sex for free; to call her.”
According to management at Brandy’s school, the online bullying had been flagged with them just before Thanksgiving, but the abusive content was linked back to untraceable messaging apps.
Brandy’s parents had also contacted local police, who instructed the teen to switch her phone number – she did, but the abuse continued.
In a sombre reflection, Jacqueline revealed: “We have a lot of incident reports, and they always say the same thing: ‘They can’t do anything about it’”.
What a devastating tragedy. We’re thinking of the Vela family at this difficult time.
