A 12-year-old East Harlem boy who relatives say hanged himself because he was bullied in school shared the same tragic end as his father — they both committed suicide. Click below to read the rest of the story.
Joel Morales, found hanging from a shower rod in the bathroom of his Jefferson Houses apartment on Second Ave. late Tuesday, was just four months old when his dad died, relatives said.
But he never knew that his father, Jose Morales, had taken his own life.
“He just knew his dad was in heaven — that’s all,†said the boy’s half-brother, Richard Salazar, 25.
Salazar declined to discuss any details, saying only that Joel’s father died “the same way: suicide.â€
Joel’s mother, Lisbeth Babilonia, found her son hanging in the bathroom after he disappeared a few hours earlier. After she cut him down with a knife, a neighbor stopped her from stabbing herself with the blade, relatives said.
A tearful Babilonia, whose right hand was wrapped in a bandage, was too distraught to speak to reporters on Thursday as she stood near a growing makeshift memorial for her son outside their home.
“She lost the most precious thing that she has,†said her brother, Josue Babilonia.
Friends and relatives said Joel was driven to suicide by a pack of bullies who often picked on him for being short and brainy. They also teased him about not having a father, friends said.
“They made him cry,†said the fifth-grader’s best friend, Diamond Zaro, 11. “They would bully him…One time, they grabbed his shoes off his feet and ran down the street. It was snowing that day and they made him run after them.â€
