Bullied New Mexico Teen Dies After Attempted Suicide

A high school student, who was the victim of anti-gay bullying, was taken off life support and died Tuesday after he attempted to take his own life last weekend, the Latin Post reports.

Carlos Vigil, 17, of Valencia County, N.M., wrote a suicide note on Twitter Saturday afternoon, confessing the he was being bullied.

"I'm sorry to those I offended over the years. I'm blind to see that I, as a human being, suck. I'm an individual who is doing an injustice to the world and it's time for me to leave," the teen wrote. "The kids in school are right, I am a loser, a freak, and a fag and in no way is that acceptable for people to deal with. I'm sorry for not being a person that would make people proud."

Friends said Vigil, who was a senior at Valley High School in Albuquerque, N.M., just came back from a trip to North Carolina where he spoke against school bullying. Apparently, the teen was not treated well during his visit and just a few hours after he returned, he tried to take his own life.

"We found out three years ago that he was going through this stuff and we've been trying to help him every day since," Vigil's father, Ray Vigil, told Albuquerque NBC-affiliate station KOB. "We realize he's been going through it every day since he was in the third grade, that's a long time for a child to hold that within himself."

The teen's father continued and said his son wanted to "be accepted by all, when he only needed to be accepted by himself."

Ray Vigil added that he rushed home as soon as he saw his son's alarming tweet but it was too late.

Vigil's family took him off life support late Sunday evening and plan to use the teen's death to spread his message.

"My son, he didn't deserve this," Jacqueline Vigil, Carlos Vigil's mother, told Albuquerque's CBS-affiliated station KRQE. "He is not here because of bullying, It drove him over the edge." She added that her son was involved in Youth and Government and wanted stricter anti-bullying laws.

KRQE also reports that Vigil transferred to Valley High last year after he experienced bullying at Los Lunas High School, located in Los Lunas, N.M., about 27 miles south of Albuquerque.

The teen's mom told the news station that her son was bullied since he was just 8 years old.

"He had this lunchbox, a smiley face lunchbox, and people thought it was the funniest lunchbox ever, and they made fun of him for it," she said. "They grabbed it on the school bus and just threw it on the floor and broke it. It's just little things like that."

Before Vigil was taken off life support, friends and classmates visited him at the hospital.

"Even though now Carlos is gone, we need to focus on what he left trying to say, that bullying is a problem," Alyssa Cisneros, a former classmate at Valley High School, told KRQE.

"Words can really hurt and I think Carlos ... He couldn't do it anymore," Patricia Valles told the news station.

Soon after Vigil passed his family wrote on his Twitter account, "Carlos is finally at peace! Thank you everyone for your support and prayers. Please don't forget what he wanted STOP THE BULLYING."

KOB reports Vigil's organs will be donated and that the teen wanted it that way so he could continue helping people.