New Bedford police said Wednesday that a city boy hanged himself less than a year after a friend took his own life.
The victim's mother said she believes it was a copy-cat suicide. Police said 12-year-old Clifford Rodrigues apparently took his own life Tuesday afternoon after a fight at school.
"I told him he was punished, and he got mad and went upstairs. And I thought he was going to put music on in my mother's room like he usually does or just lay there. But I didn't know that he had intentions to do that," said Christina Duarte, the boy's mother.
Duarte said she found her son in his grandmother's closet in the family's South Second Street home.
"CJ" had hanged himself.
"He was always joking around because that's all he does. He plays around too much. I guess this time, I don't know what triggered it," Duarte said.
Police said the sixth-grader at Roosevelt Middle School got into a fight with another student on Tuesday. Punches were thrown; CJ punched back. He was suspended for one day.
"What is particularly excruciating about this for the city, this is the second time within a year that this has happened with a preteen," Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter said.
Eleven-year-old Elijah Lopes committed suicide in March. He and CJ were friends. Duarte said her son copied what he saw and that his death wasn't from bullying.
"No, he wasn't bullied. As far as I know, he wasn't bullied. But he had some conflicts at school with some kids, but I don't think it's bullying. I don't understand why. I don't know why," Duarte said.
Sutter said his office and the police are investigating to determine if bullying played any part CJ's death.
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