A heartbroken father has taken to Facebook in order to show his gratitude, his grief and his anger.
His name is Daniel Fitzpatrick and his son (also named Daniel) was found dead in the attic by one of his sisters last week.
The Staten Island resident was only 13 years old at the time of his suicide – and he left a note in July that detailed how badly he had been bullied over the years at Holy Angels Catholic Academy.
The young teenager said he was mercilessly mocked over his weight and appearance and good grade – and that officials at his school refused to intervene.
Finally, overwhelmed by the torment, Daniel hanged himself, his family said.
“I gave up,” the 13-year old wrote on two sides of a single sheet of paper. “The teachers . . . they didn’t do anything."
Now, the elder Daniel has recorded a video of himself and shared it on Facebook.
“I laughed and cried the day that he was born at the same time, as crazy as it sounds, it’s true,” a tearful Daniel says in the painful footage.
"And now I have to say goodbye to him out of this world. I won’t be laughing, I will be crying.”
In his social media message, the distraught father spoke through tears while addressing the parents of the bullies who harassed his child.
“I hope you never, never have to feel what my family is going through right now,” he said.
“You get to hold your children every night and day for the rest of your lives and their natural lives. I don’t get that anymore. Your little monsters took that from me and my wife and his sisters.”
Daniel then aimed his fury at the bullies themselves, saying:
“I hope the memory of what you’ve done to my son is burning in your brain for the rest of your life and you suffer as much as he has suffered under your bullshit.”
As for other bullies out there?
Other kids who make themselves feel bigger and better by tormenting their fellow students?
“You’re not cool. You’re disgusting," Daniel says below.
"If I ever see any goddamn child in my life from now on, and I witness them and I see any kid getting bullied, doesn’t matter boy, girl, straight, bi, whatever. Transgender now. To the bully, I will knock you the fuck out.
"And how do you think it will make you feel?”
Watch the full video below and please call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide.
