14-year old Utah boy commits suicide with gun in front of other kids

A 14-year old boy in Taylorsville, Utah, committed with a handgun on a pedestrian bridge at the edge of the junior high school, shooting himself in the head in front of other kids.  The boy died shortly after.

From an article:

Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley says the 14-year-old boy had left Bennion Junior High with his mother about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. 

The ninth-grader later returned to a pedestrian bridge near the school just before 3 p.m. and came upon several students who had just gotten out of school for the day, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal. He pulled out a handgun and shot himself in the head, Hoyal said. 

He was taken by ambulance but died a short while later. Police are not yet identifying the teenager. 

The bridge where the shooting took place is just off school grounds near the southwest corner of the campus. 

Later Thursday evening, more than 200 people gathered at the bridge, candles in hand, for a vigil. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that they remembered him as a kind and friendly soul. 

"He was one of the sweetest guys I've ever known," said Hunter Evensen, a fellow ninth-grader. He remembered when the teen had bought him a drink and never expected to be paid back for it. 

Unified Police detectives are interviewing students who witnessed the shooting, Hoyal said. Police and school district officials said they don't yet what led the boy to take his own life, but said they are working to determine that. 

"It is a very sad situation," Hoyal said. "A very traumatic situation for these students who witnessed this." 

Horsley says the school district is providing crisis counselors to talk with students and families in the wake of the death. 

Taylorsville is a suburb located southwest of Salt Lake City.

The article didn't say where the boy got his gun.

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