After what has been called an “ambush,” the Florida teen’s mom found her face down — and when she rolled her over, her greatest dread had come true. In less than five days, the teen’s world had turned upside down when she found herself being “canceled” for supposedly breaking the “girl code.”
However, McKenna Brown‘s mother discovered her face down in her room when she attempted to wake her up for church just three days before the start of her senior year at East Lake High School in Pinellas County, Florida. She was also one month away from turning 17 at the time. When Cheryl Brown turned McKenna over, she discovered that her daughter had passed away. Initially, Cheryl Brown had assumed that McKenna was sleeping.
“I found her face down in her room. She can literally sleep anywhere. And when I first walked in the room… it didn’t even occur to me that she was gone. I thought she was sleeping on the ground, as uncomfortable as it looked. I went over to her to try and turn her over, and she was cold and stiff,”Cheryl recalled.
McKenna Brown
To her Mother’s horror, the teen had sadly committed suicide. According to the Blaze, allegations that McKenna was bullied and even “canceled” emerged after her untimely death. Just days before McKenna committed herself, her parents discovered that several of her hockey teammates had started to brutally bully and torment their daughter online. In fact, McKenna went from hanging out with her hockey mates to committing herself following what has been called a “tragic ambush” in less than five days.
An ex-boyfriend of a hockey teammate is said to have started flirting with McKenna as the beginning of it all. The 16-year-old girl reportedly sought her teammate for permission to speak with the boy, who the other girl had dated two years before, out of respect for her friend.
And although the girl initially said she was okay with McKenna talking to her ex that soon changed. Because later on, her teammates allegedly tried to “cancel” McKenna, refusing to hang out with her and sending her a “barrage of texts and phone calls,” after accusing McKenna of breaking the “girl code.”
With a former friend allegedly texted McKenna,“You’ve done all of us wrong. I hope I never see you again.”
Her mother said that in hoping to get the girl socially exiled, the teen’s hockey teammates “proceeded to try to cancel” her on social media. They even urge others not to associate with her. However, McKenna allegedly apologized but it was too late. After then, she fell victim to online bullying.
The grieving mother said, “She was attacked, her integrity was attacked. She was called a bunch of names.”
“The intent was to cancel her. In fact, one friend, in quotes, said that her mission was to ‘leave her without a single friend,’”Cheryl furthered.
Her parents only became aware of how bad it was when it was already too late as like most parents, McKenna’s parents believed the circumstance to be just a “boy drama.” However, Cheryl told The Daily Beast that the straight-A student-athlete took her own life as a result of the online bullying after succumbing to a “tsunami-type feeling” that was sparked by it.
Even though McKenna and her colleagues had been friends for up to 8 years, it was soon discovered that some of them had started to “mass distribute” negative messages about her. Even worse, the so-called friends started spreading rumors about the worst experiences McKenna had already had in her brief life, including one that said she had been raped at the age of 14.
McKenna’s father Hunter explained, “She made a couple mistakes. It led to some physical, sexual, emotional abuse. She was blackmailed. She was bullied. She was betrayed by her best friend.”
Following an investigation, Cheryl, who’s calling for a change in cyberbullying laws, doesn’t think it’s good enough as three girls that were hockey league players were accused of being responsible for the online harassment of McKenna Brown; and were suspended by the Lightning High School Hockey League for their alleged connection to McKenna’s suicide.
Cheryl said, “I would like there to be some accountability and acknowledgment to what happens. She’s not here, but she’s still helping people. That’s our mission: To help her continue to help others.”
The parents of McKenna made an appearance on the “Dr. Phil” show to talk about bullying and young mental health. “If you’re aware of something that’s going on in your kid’s life that’s affecting another kid, you got to say something. You can’t just not say something. That’s not OK and that could’ve prevented this,”Cheryl said.
But it doesn’t appear the mistreatment violated the law, although several teammates and their families came forward with stories and evidence about the bullying that they believe led to McKenna’s death.
Cheryl said that there will be no accountability criminally; Hunter explained that even though many who witnessed the mistreatment were appalled.
The hope is that McKenna’s story may help deter others from acting cruelly and inspire others who see cruelty to speak up and put an end to it before it is too late.
