Patrick Mcmahon
A ten-year-old Colorado girl has died two weeks after a suicide attempt put her on life support at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora.
Videos by Rare
Her parents describe Ashawnty Davis as a “child of joy” and someone who “brought joy to everyone,” according to KVDR. A basketball player, Ashawnty hoped to play in the WNBA.
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But Ashawnty’s mother Latoshia Harris says that all changed on the late October day that Ashawnty confronted her bully at Aurora’s Sunrise Elementary. That confrontation escalated to a fight. And a classmate recorded it all, posting it to an app called Musical.ly.
The video was watched and replayed by classmates — and only made it worse for Ashawnty, who hung herself in her closet two weeks after her first and only fight, according to her parents.
Her father, Anthony Davis, told WTVR that the fight’s posting to Musical.ly was too much for his daughter.
“She was devastated when she found out that it had made it to Musical.ly,” he said.
Colorado’s Cherry Creek School District issued the following statement in the wake of Ashawnty’s death.
This is a heartbreaking loss for the school community. Mental health supports will be made available for any students who need help processing the loss.
We do not tolerate bullying of any kind in our schools and we have a comprehensive bullying prevention program in place at all of our schools. The safety and wellbeing of students is our highest priority and we strive every today to ensure schools are safe, welcoming and supportive places that support learning.
We were made aware of that video when a media outlet approached us with it. We took immediate action in response, turning the video over to police and addressing the matter with students.
It should also be noted that the video did not take place during school hours.
After the death of their daughter, Latoshia Harris says she wants to use her daughter’s death to warn other parents to “listen” before it happens to their children.
“I want other parents to know,” she says. “That was my baby and I love my baby and I just want mothers to listen.”
