Bullied Gay Iowa Teen Kenneth Weishuhn Commits Suicide

Kenneth Weishuhn, a high school freshman in Paullina, Iowa, took his own life Saturday after being bullied by classmates at school and online, and with death threats by phone.

KTIV reports on the death of Weishuhn, who was 14 and attended South O’Brien High School in O’Brien County. His sister Kayla said that friends at the school “turned on him” after he told them he was gay last month, and boys in her sophomore class started the bullying.

“She says they took their teases online, to websites like Facebook, creating a hate group against gays and adding Kenneth's friends as members,” according to KTIV. “However, it was only the beginning, family say he started receiving death threats from South O'Brien students on his phone.”

Kenneth’s mother Jeannie said he “blew off” the phone calls when she asked about them, so she thought things were ok. She said that the high school students were given a warning, but she never heard from the school.

KTIV reports that the school has opened an investigation.