The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has determined that the death of a 17-year-old Benjamin Franklin High School student who fell from a fourth-floor balcony on campus was a suicide.
The determination provides an official classification of how the teenager died, but it has not ended questions about what happened before the fall.
The Los Angeles Police Department is continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the student’s death. Police have said there was no initial evidence of foul play. Video circulating online appears to show a confrontation involving students shortly before the fall.
A student who said she witnessed the confrontation told ABC7 that she was standing nearby when the incident happened.
“I was like right behind them when everything did happen,” she said. “When I turned around, all I saw was the kid punching him and punching him.”
Authorities have not established that the confrontation or bullying caused the teenager’s death. The medical examiner’s determination establishes the manner of death, but it does not explain what led up to the fall.
The death has prompted a strong response from the Highland Park community, with parents, students and others gathering to demand answers and call for greater safety at the school.
Jessica Gomez, a parent, said parents need to take bullying seriously before it escalates.
“If you know your kid is bullying somebody, even if it’s as a joke, stop them there before it gets worse,” Gomez said.
For other parents, the incident has raised fundamental questions about whether students are safe while at school.
“You think that being at school, they’re safe,” said Eleo Rolon, a parent whose daughter knew the student.
Students who knew the teenager have also struggled with the loss. Reighdan Rivera-Carrera, a senior who said he had known him since second grade, said the incident should never have happened.
“It shouldn’t have happened. None of us deserved to see it, and he didn’t deserve to go through what he was going through,” Rivera-Carrera said.
At the community gathering, speakers also emphasized the need to prevent another tragedy.
Fanny Salazar, a nurse at another school and a Franklin High graduate, said the community should use the tragedy as a reason to keep talking about student safety.
“What we can learn from this is to keep his memory alive, and keep talking about this and trying to prevent it from happening,” Salazar said.
The community has also called for additional safety measures on campus, including greater supervision and physical safeguards around elevated walkways and railings.
For families and students, the coroner’s ruling answers one question about the teenager’s death. But the calls for answers continue over what happened before the fall, what school officials knew, and whether more could have been done to keep the student safe.
