‘We Remain Paralyzed in Thought and Sorrow’

A pair of Southern California mother and father are mourning their 13-year-old son, who they imagine died after taking part in a harmful social media problem just like one which took a number of lives when it surfaced years in the past.

Nnamdi Glenn Ohaeri Jr.’s mother and pa discovered him unresponsive in his bed room in Murrieta within the morning of Monday, Feb. 3, after spending the day gone by watching the Grammy Awards collectively, KTLA reported.

After discovering Ohaeri Jr., the eldest of their 4 sons, his mother carried out CPR whereas his father, Nnamdi Ohaeri Sr., contacted a neighbor and police for assist, per KTLA, however the teen was later pronounced useless.

And although it initially appeared that Ohaeri Jr. had taken his life, his mother and father had doubts, so that they started investigating on their very own, which led them to find that their late son had discovered of a harmful social media problem, KTLA reported.

It’s unclear whether or not the teenager’s demise has been formally dominated a suicide or whether or not police are investigating the circumstances of his demise.

The Murrieta Police Division didn’t instantly reply to PEOPLE’s request for remark.

Much like the “Blackout Challenge” — a viral TikTok pattern that reportedly caused the deaths of several children and led parents to sue the platform a couple of years in the past — the problem that Ohaeri Jr.’s mother and father imagine claimed their son’s life challenges contributors to make themselves unconscious, in keeping with KTLA.

However Ohaeri Jr. had strict parental controls on his telephone and no social media accounts, his mother and father informed the outlet, which led them to imagine that he discovered of the problem from his classmates.

The Murrieta couple hope that their son’s story can encourage different mother and father to be extra conscious of what their children are uncovered to on social media and thru their friends.

As a father or mother, Ohaeri Sr. mentioned he has been “aware of influences” and open together with his sons about subjects like medicine, “however we don’t speak about not following social media tendencies or taking part in social media video games,” he informed KTLA. “And possibly we have to.”

Within the wake of his son’s demise, he added, “I’m going by the Rolodex of guilt now like, ‘Did we test in additional? Ought to I’ve not been as agency 4 years in the past?’ ”

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Ohaeri Jr. beloved music and sports activities, and he “had a great humorousness and an amazing wit about him,” his dad informed KTLA.

A GoFundMe fundraiser for the teenager’s household, which has raised greater than $74,000, additionally provides extra perception into who the teenager was previous to his sudden demise.

The 13-year-old was “a vibrant, variety, loving, lovely younger man, a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a buddy, a teammate, a bandmate, a frontrunner, an athlete, who had a ardour and unbelievable expertise for soccer,” the GoFundMe description says.

In a Feb. 18 replace to the fundraiser shared following Ohaeri Jr.’s Feb. 14 funeral, his father wrote, “It has been 15 days since Deuce handed away, and this sense nonetheless doesn’t appear actual. We by no means would have thought certainly one of our kids could be the face of a GoFundMe marketing campaign and but right here we’re.”

In an earlier replace, Ohaeri Sr. wrote that “it has been difficult navigating the shock, grief, and intermittent emotions of hopelessness and anger, whereas additionally making an attempt to plan for correct transitional providers.”

“We want the circumstances had been totally different however they’re as they’re,” he wrote. “And we stay paralyzed in thought and sorrow in making an attempt to totally perceive why.”

The grieving mother and father’ different three sons, he added, are “managing in addition to may be anticipated, and we’re doing our greatest to attempt to navigate their ache.”

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