{"id":35058,"date":"2013-04-19T01:54:26","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T08:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=35058"},"modified":"2019-01-24T09:08:13","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T17:08:13","slug":"hundreds-attend-tearful-vigil-for-teen-who-committed-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/04\/19\/hundreds-attend-tearful-vigil-for-teen-who-committed-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds attend tearful vigil for teen who committed suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hillview<\/a>
Hillview Principal Robert Garza, flanked by Nigel\u2019s mother, Lisa Hardy, and brother, Rosario, said the Hardy family wanted to thank the community for showing love and support.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 Students, school staff and community members flocked to Hillview Middle School Thursday night for a candlelight vigil in memory of Nigel Hardy, the 13-year-old student who committed suicide earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a>Some youths wore t-shirts with Nigel\u2019s picture on the back and an anti-bullying message on the front. Others held candles with Nigel\u2019s picture on them and wore letter beaded bracelets that spelled \u201cRIP Nigel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd of more than 300 gathered just inside the main gates to the school where a collage, featuring several photos of Nigel, was propped against the Hillview Middle School sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigel Hardy was a seventh grade student here at Hillview, an absolutely wonderful child,\u201d said Principal Robert Garza. \u201cBut like many children, had some challenges in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a>\u201cWe have no idea what poor Nigel was going through,\u201d said vigil organizer Jennifer Chavez. \u201cHe\u2019s not here to be able to tell us and, for that, it\u2019s such a tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigel reportedly shot himself in the head in a Rosamond restaurant Monday night and was pronounced dead at Antelope Valley Hospital. The teen\u2019s family had reported him missing that morning, after his father found a suicide note in Nigel\u2019s room and discovered that his handgun was missing, sheriff\u2019s officials said. (Read more here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a>The 13-year-old had been despondent over an incident at Hillview Middle School that resulted in him being temporarily suspended, according to Palmdale Community Relations deputy Jodi Wolfe.<\/p>\n

School officials are not saying why Nigel was suspended, but several students have said that Nigel had a fight with another student, which triggered the suspension. Nigel, a cheerleader with the AV Dynasty, was being bullied at school, his classmates said.<\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s vigil, Nigel’s teammates said he had an ever-present smile and a cheerful personality, while in the gym doing what he truly loved.<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a>\u201cHe was a god in\u00a0cheerleading…\u00a0 that\u2019s when he was his happiest,\u201d said teammate Shane Bigelow, a senior at Quartz Hill High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he ever wanted to bring any of his problems there and that\u2019s why he never wanted to really open up to us, but I really wish he would have,\u201d said teammate Domanic Sorosjinda, a senior at Lancaster High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really hope this all puts a stop to bullying because it\u2019s not right what happened,\u201d said teammate Kelly Hughes, 13.<\/p>\n

A facebook page has been created by local students to allow youths to share their stories on bullying and to get support from their peers. The Nigel Project<\/a> is for kids who are constantly being bullied at school and who may be afraid to seek help, said one of the page\u2019s administrators.<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a>\u201cOur page is mostly to stop bullying and we want to get the word out that this happened, so that it never has to happen again,\u201d the student said. Visit The Nigel Project here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the candlelight vigil Thursday night, Assemblyman Steve Fox said the California Assembly has just passed ACR-44, a resolution to establish the third Thursday of every April as a Day of Silence in the schools to protest bullying. Fox said he would be pushing legislation to change the current education code regarding bullying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state education code states that if someone is found guilty of bullying, they may be suspended for up to five days. I\u2019m going to introduce legislation that says they shall<\/i> be suspended for up to five days,\u201d Fox said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to take a no tolerance policy and give the schools the tools they need to enforce a no bullying policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just stop this bullying and let\u2019s just prevent this from ever happening again,\u201d Sorosjinda said. \u201cDo it for Nigel, do it for his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

School District responds to Hillview student suicide<\/a><\/p>\n

13-year-old dead, suicide suspected<\/a><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 Students, school staff and community members flocked to Hillview Middle School Thursday night for a candlelight vigil in memory of Nigel Hardy, the 13-year-old student who committed suicide earlier this week. Some youths wore t-shirts with Nigel\u2019s picture on the back and an anti-bullying message on the front. Others held candles with Nigel\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1491],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}