Police have released new information in a teen suicide that family members believed to be prompted by bullying. For the first time, police said they wanted to question a person of interest and the chief said the case would go to the DA.
"I think somebody should be held accountable," said CJ Jatala, who believed his niece Sherokee Harriman was driven by others to kill herself, that she was the victim of bullies.
Harriman was a 14 years old, and a student at La Vergne High School.
"I really think it was a homicide because they drove her to it. They pushed her to the point where she felt she had no option," said Jatala.
The medical examiner confirmed that Sherokee stabbed herself in the stomach with a knife.
A memorial was set up at the exact spot where it happened a week ago Saturday at La Vergne's Mankin Park.
"It affects all of us, but when it's a child it's even more difficult," said LaVergne Police Chief Mike Walker, who added that his officers are scrutinizing text messages sent to Sherokee.
His detectives wanted to question a person-of-interest in connection with what happened.
We asked if there was any way criminal charges might be filed in the case, and he said “From what we have now no.”
However, he added the case wasn’t closed yet, and when his detectives do finish their file it would be sent to the District Attorney.
Then the DA would decide if anyone was prosecuted for Sherokee's death, but regardless of the evidence such a case would be difficult to win in court.
Experts said there were no clear laws on the books in Tennessee to prosecute a possible bullying case like this one.
So Sherokee's family started a petition drive to get signatures urging state lawmakers to change that.
They have set up a Facebook page SABTN which stands for Standing Against Bullying in Tennessee. So far they have collected close to 1,000 signatures.
