Three ‘bullies’ have been suspended from a Florida hockey league after allegedly driving a 16-year-old girl to suicide over talking to one of their exes.
McKenna Brown, a resident of Pinellas County, committed herself in mid-August after being viciously tormented and harassed online for communicating with one of her hockey teammates’ ex-boyfriends. Five days later, she committed suicide.
Three unidentified female athletes have been accused of cyberbullying her and have been suspended from the Lightning High School Hockey League.
Her parents, Cheryl and Hunter Brown, assert that their daughter was extensively harassed and bullied online by these girls, and that she went out with them days before her death.
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McKenna Brown, 16 years old, of Pinellas County, Florida, committed suicide in mid-August after being viciously tormented and humiliated online for communicating with one of her hockey buddies’ ex-boyfriends. Five days later, she committed suicide.
Three unidentified female players have been accused of cyberbullying McKenna (shown) and have been suspended from the Lightning High School Hockey League.
Her mother Cheryl initially believed she was sleeping when she discovered her face-down in her room. When she attempted to turn her over, she discovered her daughter to be “cold and rigid.”
McKenna and the ladies were at the beach when they ran into one of the girl’s ex-boyfriends from two years ago.
According to reports, the kid began ‘flirting’ with McKenna, and the student-athlete asked her companion if it was alright for her to talk to him.
McKenna’s parents informed Dr. Phil that the following evening, the party went to the causeway, where the goaltender hung out with the boy and the other girl became envious.
The Browns told Dr. Phil that after leaving McKenna off at home the following morning, the teen, who had just acquired her driver’s license, began receiving “a deluge of messages and phone calls from the girl.”
McKenna asked the one friend/teammate if it was okay if she spoke to her ex-boyfriend from two years ago, and the friend/teammate replied it was fine. Cheryl told Fox 13 that she recognized a few days later that her retaliation with a buddy was not acceptable.
McKenna apologized to her friend for ‘stepping the line’ and spent the day discussing the new antagonism with her mother, who referred to her daughter as her ‘best friend’
McKenna had received numerous text messages from the girl and her friends, including the following: “You have done us all a great disservice” and “I pray I never see you again.”
McKenna (shown) was the team’s goalie and a student-athlete.
Later that evening, the family headed to supper, and McKenna spotted on Snapchat’s map that her friends were all gathered. Her mother stated that at that point her daughter’s “face became white.”
After viewing a movie with her family, McKenna decided that they would attend church the following morning.
The next morning, when Cheryl entered her daughter’s room, she discovered McKenna lying face down on the floor.
‘At first, I believed she was sleeping – she could sleep anywhere, she could sleep anywhere – so I did not know what I was seeing. The distraught mother told Dr. Phil, “When I went over to her and attempted to flip her over and she was cold and rigid, I knew she was gone.”
In her ‘thoughtful’ suicide note, her daughter forgot to name any of her claimed tormentors, but her mother stated that she “knew it had to have had something to do with these girls.”
Cheryl stated on the show, “I had no idea how much of what we learned and pieced together after it occurred thereafter.”
According to the letter, she felt’safe’ at home and loved her family, but lacked a sense of belonging.
The girls allegedly disclosed ‘very intimate information’ about McKenna with teammates and friends in order to ‘humiliate’ and ’embarrass’ her, including the knowledge that she had been raped at age 14.
Other text conversations discovered by Fox 13 reveal that the girl, with whom McKenna had been friends for five years, sent her the following to McKenna: “You have done all of us such a disservice” and “I hope I never see you again.”
She also received novel-length texts and was inundated with messages from other ladies, including one that stated they “intended to leave her without a single friend.”
The youngster even encouraged others to ‘cancel’ McKenna via social media.
Her mother asked Fox 13: “How could you do something like that?”
Cheryl believes the hockey player is ‘without remorse’ due to the fact that the bully attended McKenna’s funeral and that the bully attended the funeral.
“She got what she deserved,” [the bully] told one of her buddies.”
McKenna left a “thoughtful” suicide note noting that she felt “comfortable” at home and loved her parents. She informed them that she “lacked a sense of belonging.”
In her note, she did not blame the girls who were harassing her, according to her mother.
The females divulged “very private information” about McKenna to other colleagues and friends, including the fact that she had been raped at 14 years old.
Her bully even attended her funeral, to the amazement of her mother.
The hockey league, along with Statewide Amateur Hockey of Florida (SAHOF) and USA Hockey, is currently investigating the event.
The parents and colleagues of McKenna fondly recall the young girl’s generosity.
Sarah Walters, a teammate, told Fox 13: “She always cared about others, so I know if it were me, she would do the same thing for me and have my back.”
I only wish she had seen through it as well. The suspensions and punishments would have still occurred, and she would still be present. Cheryl stated to the media outlet.
Her parents planned to buy her a car so she could assist in transporting her sisters with special needs, and she just changed her college plans because SAHOF had launched a female league.
Even her father remembers how his straight-A daughter used to walk another mistreated girl to the parking lot.
For confidential support, dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.