SCHENECTADY, N.Y., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The 17-year-old high school student whose "laser cat" yearbook photo made him an Internet star has died.
Draven Rodriguez's parents told the Times-Union that their son, a senior at Schenectady High School in Schenectady, N.Y., committed suicide at his home Feb. 19.
"He made friends wherever he went," said his father, Jonathan Stewart. "He had friends all over the country -- people he'd met at youth leadership conferences, online, just around town."
Draven made national headlines last September when he asked his school to let him pose for a yearbook picture with his cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, against a background of lasers.
"I don't want to go in the yearbook with the generic 'I-look-like-everyone-else' photo," Draven said at the time.
The school eventually rejected Draven's original photo idea, but allowed him to pose with his cat, lasers and principal Diane Wilkinson in another section of the yearbook.
"He wasn't trying to stir things up with it," Draven's father added. "He honestly just wanted a silly photo because he had a great sense of humor."
