A Suicide At Age 8? Very Rare, But Not Inconceivable

NEW YORK (AP) — After an 8-year-old Cincinnati boy apparently killed himself in January, even the coroner found it hard to believe it could be a suicide.

Now, she is re-examining Gabriel Taye's death, after it emerged that he was bullied and knocked unconscious at school two days before he died.

Hamilton County Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco's office has ruled Gabriel's death a suicide. But she said last week that she was reopening the investigation to re-examine Gabriel's injuries and whether there were contributing factors to his death.

Federal statistics show an average of 14 suicides per year nationwide among children 10 or younger since 1999. That compares to over 1,400 per year among 11-to-18-year-olds.

Chicago-based child psychiatrist Dr. Louis Kraus says that at 8, children generally are just coming to understand death.