Friday, May 15, 2015

Fil-Am high school track star dies


TEMPE, Arizona – A Filipino American teenager, who was admired in his community as a star athlete, committed suicide Tuesday in the very school where he excelled.

Marcus Wheeler was a winning athlete. He was Arizona State Cross Country champion Division 1 for 2014.

It came as a big shock to his friends and classmates that the 18-year old would be capable of ending his own life.

"He was brilliant. He could do anything he wanted to do," said Nolash Poceso or Corona Del Sol High School.

"He did not seem like that kind of person," Macala Montemarano said.

But the signs were there. Wheeler had post several ominous tweets leading up to Tuesday's tragedy. The most telling was, "There is going to be a suicide in the school right now".

"He wasn't in the right state of mind on Monday. Something with someone happened and he like ran out of class crying and he really wouldn't talk to anybody," Montemarano said.

Tempe police said on Tuesday morning, Wheeler shot himself in the head near the school gym.

Prior to the suicide, a school resource officer reportedly tried to convince Wheeler not to hurt himself.

"He was always smiling so I would never think that it was gonna be him. But I saw the two tweets when he tweeted it and the school has gone into lockdown so I had an idea like someone was gonna commit suicide but no one would have thought it was him cause he's like such a happy kid," said another schoolmate, Michael Liao.

Some of his friends said Wheeler was so full of life that they did not take what he tweeted seriously.

Wheeler's Filipino mother is still reportedly in the Philippines while his African-American father is based in California.

A memorial will be held for Wheeler this Saturday.

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source: www.abs-cbnnews.com