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EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — A 10-year-old boy died after reportedly being found hanging from a hook in a school restroom, and police on Wednesday would not confirm the school district's contention that the death was accidental.
The mother of Aquan Lewis said Wednesday that she was still waiting for an explanation of what happened to the fifth-grader at Oakton Elementary in the Chicago suburb of Evanston.
The boy was found unresponsive in a restroom Tuesday afternoon and was pronounced dead Wednesday at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
"It's devastating," said school board member Jerome Summers. "Nobody anticipates the death of their child when they send their kid to school."
School janitor Elliott Lieteau said that when he entered the restroom the boy was lying on the floor and he was told other people had pulled the boy off a hook. He said he performed CPR.
Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther said at a news conference Wednesday that Aquan's death was "an isolated incident" and no other children were in danger. He would not discuss whether Aquan had been found hanging from a hook or whether he believed the death was an accident, saying he didn't want to jeopardize the investigation.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said autopsy results would be available later Wednesday.
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 spokeswoman Patricia Markham had said it appeared to be an accident.
"We don't believe it was anything other than that," Markham said Tuesday.
School Superintendent Hardy Murphy would not comment on that Wednesday. He said it wasn't clear when the boy left his class to go to the restroom. There are no security cameras inside the school.
Aquan's mother, Angel Marshall, told WBBM-TV that she knows her son had been unaccounted for at the school for a time. But she said police and school officials had told her very little.
"I want my son back," she said, sobbing.
Several parents who would not give their names attended a school meeting Wednesday and said school officials provided little information. Others said school officials instructed them to avoid talking to the media.
Maria Patino said her daughter, a fourth-grader, was frightened and confused.
She said her daughter asked "Mommy, is the person going to come for me, too?" because she thought somebody had intentionally hurt the boy.
"I didn't know what to say," Patino said in Spanish.
Third-grader Michael Barrera, 9, told reporters as he left with his mother that he was leaving early.
"My mom doesn't think I should stay at school and should come home and rest at the house so that I'm not so sad about what happened," the boy said.
He said many students were frightened Tuesday when news spread that a classmate was seriously hurt and rumors spread that he might have been killed.
"I was scared that nothing would happen to me or my friends," he said.
The sprawling, three-story, red brick school has about 420 students in kindergarten through 5th grade.
and you know what it sounds like a case of bullying
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