Parents demand answers after seven-year-old boy found hanged in Charles County elementary school

In the post, she detailed the traumatizing ordeal as doctors tended to her son, and she says those feelings are still with her.

“I’m feeling angry, hurt and confused,” she said. “But at the same time, I’m feeling thankful that my son is still here.”

The school’s principal sent out a letter notifying parents of the incident saying, 

“Two of our students were reportedly horseplaying in a school bathroom when one student’s jacket got caught on a stall door hook. The student was not able to free themselves and the other student involved was also not able to help them. This student left the bathroom to seek help from staff and reported the incident to administrators.”

However, the victim’s mother says she’s not convinced that’s what happened.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” she argued. “If you’re horseplaying, how do you get caught on a hook? We need answers, I want answers, and we won’t stop until we get answers.”

The boy's parents gave WUSA9 a copy of his hospital records and it shows that the child suffered neck contusion, which is caused by blunt trauma.

As word of the incident got around, parents living around the elementary school couldn’t believe this could happen among people so young.

“You’re sitting there, trying to figure out how does a young child get himself hooked on a bathroom stall hook that’s higher,” said Valerie Feemster. “You don’t expect these things to happen, but if they were to happen, you’d expect it to happen in a middle school or maybe a high school, but elementary school?”

“Children can be mean, but they don’t learn stuff like this, this is not natural for children to want to go to that level of violence,” says Gary Washington.

Both Charles County Public Schools and the Charles County Sheriff’s Office are investigating what happened on Friday. However, shockwaves from this incident have been felt as far away as Texas. The One in Five Foundation for Kids, formerly the Uvalde Foundation For Kids, announced on Saturday that it’ll be launching its own investigation into the incident.

Now, the victim’s parents say while they’re thankful that the principal found their son in time, the school’s response isn’t acceptable, and someone at the school needs to be held accountable.

“What was the reason why the age difference of kids were in the bathroom at the same time? I don’t feel like that’s right,” the victim’s father said. “We don’t know how long they were in the bathroom, so where are the adults, the teachers, and the faculty in the situation? Like, why weren’t they more aware of where the children were at the time?”