ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Latest victim a 14-year-old Ruidoso High School freshman who died Sunday.
A 14-year-old Mescalero girl died Sunday of an apparent suicide, the fourth suicide on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in the past two months, the Ruidoso News reported.
The girl was a freshman at Ruidoso High School, and school spokeswoman Doris Dettmer told the News that staff and students were “devastated” by the news.
Grief counselors, suicide prevention specialists and others were available for students who want to talk to someone, Dettmer told the paper.
“We have several people in the building helping as Native American liaisons and specialists with the Department of Health(‘s) Youth and Suicide Prevention,” Dettmer said. “Ther is grief counseling in the library and an extra room for kids who need to be alone. All municipal school and Mescalero counselors are available for adults or students.”
Two previous suicide deaths occurred in separate, unrelated incidents in September involving a 16-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man, and a man from the Mescalero Reservation committed suicide in August, according to the News.
A Mescalero woman whose daughter knew the girl who died Sunday told the News: “They are too young to realize you can’t come back from such a decision. I think, perhaps, they want to punish someone. Maybe they just feel hopeless, but suicide certainly is not an answer.”
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