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A little after 5 p.m. yesterday, the parents of 10-year-old Tyriq Ammons sent him to his room for misbehaving. Forty-five minutes later, his mother went to check on him. She opened the door to find her son hanging from a noose fashioned out of a videogame controller. Tampa Police are investigating the incident as a possible suicide.
After the shocking discovery, the mother summoned a neighbor, who began performing chest compressions to try to revive the boy. Police arrived soon after and began CPR, but he never regained consciousness. Tampa Fire Rescue rushed the child to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Little else has been released about the case, including any possible mental health problems the boy might have had. Police say that so far the investigation and autopsy point to suicide.
Suicide at such a young age is very rare but not unheard of. Eleven 10-year-olds committed suicide in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available, according to the CDC.
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