Wednesday, December 3rd, a twelve year old boy took his own life due to years of excessive bullying.

From Folsom California, Ronin Shimizu, was already a home schooled student when tragedy struck because of his encounters in Folsom Cordova Community Charter School.
Not much has been released on the details of his death besides he’s had been bullied from early elementary school in person and on the popular social networking app, instagram. A discovered cause of the bullying was due to the fact that Ronin was a male cheerleader on the Vista Jr. Eagles squad. The school has released that they responded to this matter with “appropriate action for each instance”.

They have also sent notice to homes all over the town informing them of the tragedy. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by this unspeakable tragedy, and our hearts go out to Ronin’s family during this difficult time. Many students, teachers and staff who knew Ronin remember him as a positive and outgoing child, and our school communities are truly grieving this loss today. We are moved by the outpouring of support from families and community members asking how they can help.”

A topic commonly brought up by community members was that the district reps did not handle his bullying complaints whole heartedly. Since not much improvement was made Ronin was transferred to home schooling.

A friend of his noticed a change in Ronin, for the better. “When he left to go to home-school… he just looked so happy,” said Hunter Reed,” He knew he didn’t want to be bullied again.”

After his death a candle vigil was held and so many supporters came out to pay their respects that the streets were packed and cars weren’t able to move.

Riley Coleman was tearing up as she emotionally said,” He was bullied very badly. It’s not okay to bully people.”

His friend Grace Velander told the press, “I was devastated when I found out. I started crying,” said Ronin’s friend Grace Velander. “I’ve known him since 6th grade. Me and him had classes together all last year.”

Parents have joined together in the midst of their shock to realize they need to protect their children and prevent the things like this from happening.

The Shimizu family has released a virtual statement explaining that” Ronin was one of the most loving, compassionate, empathetic, artistic, and funny kids to grace this earth,” they said in a statement. “We did everything in our power to allow him to pursue his passions while protecting him from the minority that could not understand the specialness he possessed.”

Soon they released another virtual statement which was posted on a tribute page to Ronin  entitled “Ronin’s Voice” with over 3,000 ‘likes’, which said, “The tragic loss of our son has and will forever change our life. The love and support that we received from family, friends and the Folsom community has been immeasurable and words cannot begin to express our gratitude through this most difficult grieving process. The people close to our family know exactly who Ronin was, but since the story of this tragedy has spread worldwide, we want to take a minute to let the world know who he was. Ronin was one of the most loving, compassionate, empathetic, artistic, and funny kids to grace this earth. Ronin was a child who was not afraid to follow his heart, and we as his parents did everything in our power to allow him to pursue his passions, while protecting him from the minority that could not understand the specialness he possessed.” They later added they wish to turn the tragedy into something positive.
This tragedy took the world by storm even touching people from all over. Several cheerleading teams have been reported taking moments of silence at competitions in memory of Ronin Shimizu.