12-year old Wisconsin girl committed suicide due to bullying

Payton Ruth Ann Richardson, age 12

12-year old Payton Ruth Ann Richardson was visiting her grandparents in Ladysmith, Wisconsin.  When her grandparents woke up and looked for her, they found she had committed suicide with her grandfather's gun, which had been stored unlocked.

From the article:

“This was a total shock to the grandparents and everybody that’s known her. This was way out of the ordinary for her,” Kaminski said.

The sheriff said the pistol was registered to the grandfather.

While it was stored in a secure location, investigators said it was not locked up.

“She was very safe with the weapons and knew how to use the weapons. So this is something that was not accidental,” Kaminski said. 

Though the school denies it, Payton's mother says she has proof that the girl was endlessly bullied by classmates.  Now she is trying to make it possible to pass a law to hold bullies accountable.

“She was a happy-go-lucky kid and it was so tragic because none of us actually knew what was happening,” Richardson said.

She said bullying by middle school classmates lead her daughter to take her own life.

“There was a group of girls that I have proof in my hands that were bullying her and I think with some other things that were happening in her life the bullying was the top of the cake and that was it,” Richardson said.

Richardson said the she was shocked to hear the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser School District tell WEAU that there’s no merit to allegations of bullying.

“When I seen the first news broadcast and the information that I had from Payton’s Facebook and her iPods, yeah I think they tried to brush it under the table,” Richardson said.

Payton’s mom said she’s trying to turn this tragedy into something positive for not only her family but the entire state of Wisconsin.

She said she’s raising money for a scholarship for students who stand up to bullies and that’s just the start of it.

“They are actually in the process of writing some paperwork to take to legislative committee so that we can make a law so that a bully is held responsible for their actions and what they’re doing to other students,” Richardson said.

She said they want to name the legislation Payton’s Law.

“I need to do this for my daughter and if I only save one student I served my purpose,” Richardson said.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.