GREENWICH, Conn., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Friends say a Connecticut teenager who killed himself on the first day of school was bullied because of his height and his Polish accent.
Bart Palosz, 15, was entering his sophomore year at Greenwich High School when he shot himself Aug. 27, CNN reported. Police in Greenwich say his death is still under investigation, and detectives have determined he used a shotgun his family stored in a locked cabinet.
Palosz was 6 feet, 3 inches tall. His family had emigrated from Poland to Connecticut.
Lisa Johnson, whose son, Izzy, was a friend of Bart, described him as "one of the kindest kids I had ever met."
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"It was a life-changing friendship for Izzy," she said during a eulogy at Bart's funeral on Friday. "Bart was two years older, and he was so kind, funny, and refreshingly different from any kid Izzy had ever been around. Our family is absolutely devastated by the loss of Bart in our lives."
Johnson said Bart had been the target of bullies for several years but gave no outward sign he was troubled by it. After his death, however, posts on his social network site were found that suggested he had been thinking about suicide for weeks and might even have tried it.
One showed a picture of himself with a knife next to his eye. He asked who would miss him if he stabbed himself in the eye.
"I notice if I sound sad I'm normal and if I act happy, cheerful, and 'normal' there is a high chance that I will try to poison myself, cut myself, commit suicide, or jump in front of a truck," he wrote.
The message ended with a smiley-face emoticon.
