“I cannot begin to explain the pain and loss that I’m experiencing right now,” he wrote. “Jaymeson was beautiful inside and out. He was more than my son. He was my best friend. He was everything that was good in me. Every (breath) of my life will miss him.”

BAPS officials expressed their sadness over West’s death.

“As a mother of two students, one of whom is a Pride member, I am absolutely heartbroken,” Broken Arrow Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Janet Dunlop said in a release. “We are a family in Broken Arrow and are working together to make sure Jaymeson’s family and all of our students have everything they need during this devastating time.”

School officials said counseling would be offered from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the school’s media center.

Counselors will be available throughout the school week. Officials said in the statement that “students can come to the Media Center at any time for support.”

A group of band members gathered Saturday afternoon at the school. Many of them wore shades of purple.

Dozens also gathered about noon Saturday at St. Anne Catholic Church in Broken Arrow for a prayer service.