A 16-year-old teen, Adam Kizer, committed suicide by hanging after being severely bullied for years. The teen had been bullied for years and suffered PTSD from an incident that took place when he was eight or nine years old. The child was tied to a tree by peers and doused with gasoline. The kids then said they were going to “light him on fire” but Kizer was able to escape. Though he escaped the gasoline incident, he did not escape the ever-persistent bullying by other kids over the years.

According to the Daily Mail, 16-year-old Adam Kizer from Sonoma, California, passed away over the weekend after hanging himself in the family’s home. The teen’s father says that he faced bullying from a young age. Adam suffered from depression as well as post-traumatic stress syndrome. William Kizer, Adam’s father, says that the bullying was so severe that at one point a group of children actually tied Adam to a tree and poured gasoline over his head. He was told that they planned to “light him on fire” but Adam escaped before they could follow through. William says that the incident was reported to police but no arrests were ever made because one of the boys was deemed “slow” and may not have realized what he was doing.

The traumatic incident took place in Newcastle, Wyoming, and the family soon moved to Sonoma, where Adam’s parents had both grown up. However, upon arriving in Sonoma, the Kizer family realized that things would not change for Adam. Just weeks after arriving at the new school, Adam was again experiencing bullying by his peers. As a result, Adam got into a fight with the bullies and was subsequently expelled from the elementary school.

Following the expulsion from school, Adam’s father told the Press Democrat that the boy was taken from their home and placed in a juvenile detention center for two years. Adam was finally released in 2013 and returned home. In 2014, Adam enrolled in Sonoma Valley High School and the bullying continued yet again. This time, Adam’s father says that a week didn’t go by that Adam wasn’t bullied.

“I don’t think the boy went a whole week without somebody messing with him.They would tell him ‘You should kill yourself.'”

Things got even worse for Adam about six months ago when he came out as bisexual. William says that his son remained depressed and began cutting himself. After about a dozen attempts at committing suicide, Adam was sent to the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, but would still attend school during the day and come home for the weekends. With concerns growing over the teen’s increasingly harmful behavior, Adam was taken by sheriff’s deputies for a mental evaluation. However, it was determined that Adam was “not a risk” so he was released.

Shortly after being deemed “not a risk,” the teen wrapped a fishing line around his neck and died. Now Adam’s father wants some answers as to why his son’s issues were not handled differently. He says he blames the school, juvenile justice, and mental health officials for his son’s death. He says the school should have taken the bullying claims seriously and that the juvenile justice and mental health system should have helped the teen with his problems.

Sadly, not all bullying is done by peers. A 13-year-old girl recently jumped to her death after her father publicly shamed her online as a form of punishment.

Do you think schools should be held responsible for bullying by peers? Should the juvenile justice and mental health system have done more for this troubled teen?

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