A South Carolina family was in mourning because their young daughter will not come home after what should have been a normal day of school.
RaNiya Wright, 10, was involved in a fight in a classroom with another student at Forest Hills Elementary School in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Monday. Following the fight, she collapsed and was in the school nurse’s station unconscious but breathing. Wright had to be airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina where she died Wednesday morning.
While Wright remained unresponsive prior to dying, her mother, Ashley, posted emotional photographs of her daughter wearing a neck brace with several tubes protruding from her mouth and neck. Ashley broke the heartbreaking news of her daughter’s death on her Facebook page.
“As of 9:39 my baby girl has gain her wings,” she wrote with a prayer emoji before adding, “justice4Ny.”
There has been no word on what Wright’s injuries were, but an autopsy was scheduled for Friday morning.
On Tuesday, the Colleton County School District released a statement regarding the incident on Facebook. The district said staff and school staff met with the family and though the post is no longer available, ABC4 News was able to get a snippet of the statement:
“The district is committed to ensure the safety of all of our students while on campus.”
Wright’s family seems to believe that she was the victim of bullying, but the police have yet to confirm that information. The other student involved has not been publically identified, but school officials have confirmed that the student is suspended pending an investigation. Though the district has been very mum about details regarding the case, Colleton County School Board member William Bowman said the incident is very tragic.
“We’ve never had an incident of this magnitude that has occurred in our school district,” Bowman told WALB on Wednesday, “ It’s been very tragic to all of our community, it’s been very devastating to all members of our community.”
The Colleton County Sherriff’s office has confirmed in a statement that there were no weapons involved in the fight.
According to WALB, district officials confirmed that they posted on social media about the incident the day it happened on Facebook and offered their condolences to the family on Wednesday.
“We are devastated by this news, and we want our communities to keep their thoughts and prayers with the student’s family at this time,” the post read.
The Colleton County School Board has planned to meet on Thursday regarding the incident.
Flowers, teddy bears and other toys were piling up at Forest Hills as the community continues to process what happened to one of their youngest and most vulnerable members.
A GoFundMe account was created to help Wright’s family with their expenses and has already garnered more than $40,000 in donations.
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