Teen who was relentlessly bullied kills herself in front of her family
Brandy
Vela's bedroom is covered in Post-it notes. "You will always own a
piece of my heart," says one. "You will never be forgotten," says
another.
Blue hearts, for her "beautiful blue eyes," are taped up and down her high school hallway.
All of them a heartbreaking reminder of a life cut short.
Vela
killed herself this week, putting a gun to her chest while her family
begged her not to. She was 18 years old -- and she had been relentlessly
bullied.
Bullied for her weight
Brandy's sister, Jackie, says the teen had always been bullied for her weight, but the cyberbullying ramped up in April.
"People
would make up fake Facebook accounts and they would message her and she
wouldn't respond and they would still come at her," Jackie said.
"They
would say really, really mean things like, 'Why are you still here?'
They would call her fat and ugly. She was beautiful, absolutely
beautiful; the only thing people could find to pick on her was her
weight."
Jackie says her sister changed her phone number and reported the bullying to police, but was told they couldn't help her.
"They
couldn't do anything because [the suspects] used an app and it wasn't
traceable and they couldn't do something until something happened, like
they fight," Jackie said.
'I'm sorry for everything'
Jackie
said she knew something was wrong when she got a text from Brandy on
Tuesday saying "I love you so much, please remember that, and I'm sorry
for everything."
Worried,
she called her parents and grandparents. They rushed home to their
house in Texas City, Texas, where they found Brandy in her room with a
gun.
The family pleaded with the teen not to pull the trigger. But Brandy had made up her mind.
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