Girl, 14, Hangs Herself at School

A 14-year-old girl died after she excused herself from class, went into a bathroom and hanged herself with her shoelaces, authorities in Santa Clara County said Saturday.

A teaching assistant began looking for the ninth-grader Friday afternoon when she failed to return to class after 20 minutes and discovered her dangling from a bar in a bathroom stall, Morgan Hill Police Sgt. David Myers said.

The principal of Britton Middle School freed the girl, who was not breathing and had no pulse, and tried to resuscitate her while school officials locked down the campus to keep other students away, Myers said.

Paramedics also tried to revive her, but she never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.

Her death has been ruled a suicide.

“This was a very troubled and determined young lady who thought of a way to take her life and was successful in it,” Myers said.

A little over 5 feet tall and weighing about 100 pounds, the girl tied her extra-wide sneaker laces together and secured them over the bar and around her neck before letting her body drop, Myers said.

Police found several notes in her backpack and entries in the girl’s diary that revealed she had been thinking about suicide.

“There were references to how unhappy she was and the fact she was contemplating this act,” Myers said.