- Nicholas Kelo Jr.
OHIO – Once again, anti-gay bullying has resulted in a tragic teen suicide. Nicholas Kelo Jr., 13, committed suicide on Feb. 23 in his home. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, Nick pried open a safe inside his home to remove the gun that killed him.
“It had been going on for years,” his mother Jaqueline Kelo said. “We would talk and he would say (of the bullies) that they were not worth his time.”
It is not known whether Nick considered himself to be gay. However, when he gave up football this year to participate in the high school band, rumors that he was gay circulated through his Rittman school.
“After that, it spiraled out of control,” Jaqueline said. “Some wrongly assumed that a kid who would prefer to play the tenor sax rather than tossing a football must be gay.”
Another Rittman mother, whose son has also been subject to bullying, recounted a story about a bus ride home from a football game where Nick was allegedly spat on by an older student. Nick refused to share details and told the other mother he would handle it on his own. Nick’s parents had no knowledge of this attack until after their son’s death.
Jacqueline told the Beacon Journal she wasn’t surprised her son kept the bullying a secret. “He was the man of the house,” the single mother said and described her son as his mother’s protector. Nick scored 152 on an IQ Test, was second-degree black belt qualified and a creative inventor.
Nick’s death is being investigated as a likely suicide, according to Rittman police.
