Father speaks on teen suicides, gun safety on 1-year anniversary of son’s death
By David Chang From NBC Channel 10 Philadelphia
A Delaware County father spoke out on teen suicide as well as gun safety a year after his son took his own life.
“Today [March 4] is the one-year anniversary of the day my 13 and ¾ years old son committed suicide. I think about him every day and dream about him many nights,” Farid Naib posted on Facebook. “I don’t have any answers to the questions that I have. My days are full of grief.”
On March 4, 2015, Farid’s son Cayman Naib, went missing after leaving his Newtown Square home without his cellphone. Naib’s mother Becky Naib told NBC10 her son, who attended the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, had been under pressure to get his school work done. She said the 8th grade student may have feared having to admit he was behind in his work and face the consequences both at home and at school.
“We think his leaving might have been sparked by an email that said he was going to fail a class if he didn’t get something in by today,” she said.
After a four-day search, Naib’s snow-covered body was found on March 8, 2015 in a shallow section of Darby Creek along his family’s 17-acre property on Harrison Drive in Newtown Square. The medical examiner ruled Naib died from a single gunshot wound to the head. His family also confirmed the shooting was self-inflicted and done with a handgun they owned.
“The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. The gun was taken from the home,” a family spokesperson wrote. “The police have informed us that despite being fitted with a trigger lock, the gun was still able to be fired.”
On Friday, a year after his son’s death, Farid Naib spoke on the issue of teen suicides while also wishing he had discussed it with his son.
“Teen impulse suicides do happen,” he wrote. “I have heard numerous stories from other parents in which they have lost a child without any warning. There was no history of depression, there was no prolonged bad spell, there were no warning sign, the child in question was happy. Teens make bad choices some times, and a single event can seem insurmountable to them. For want of a better term I have come to call these impulse suicides. I am not an expert, but I wish I had talked to Cayman about suicide and what a bad idea it is and how no problem is that big.”
He also spoke on the issue of gun safety.
“I do not want to get into a second amendment debate, this is not about the right to own weapons,” he wrote. “My intent is to say that guns in the house of teenagers are a risk, even for a responsible gun owner. My own gun was secured by a trigger guard, I have spoken to another family that had a locked gun cabinet, these methods were ineffective. There are of course other ways for a child to commit suicide, for example Palo Alto has experienced teen suicides from teens jumping in front of trains. However a gun in the home, even a locked gun, makes it much easier for a child to commit suicide. I will continue to work with the Brady group to get this message out to responsible parents who are gun owners.”
Naib ended his message by expressing how much he missed his son.
“I miss Cayman every day,” he wrote. “I miss seeing him turn 14. I will miss seeing him turn 15. I will miss him for the rest of my life.”
SUICIDE PREVENTION: If you know someone who needs help, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
First Published at 5:18 PM EST on Mar 6, 2016
For more on this story go to: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Cayman-Naib-Farid-Naib-Teen-Delaware-County-Newtown-Square-Suicide-Shooting-Gun-371211861.html#ixzz44CmQ23C1
See also iNews Cayman related story with links published March 10 2015 “Medical examiner: Cayman Naib died of self-inflicted gunshot wound” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/medical-examiner-cayman-naib-died-of-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound/
