Wilton High School Stunned After Series of Deaths

A longtime employee and two students at Wilton High have died in just a two-week span.

According to Hearst Connecticut Media, on September 21, high school junior, George DiRocco passed away from an unknown heart condition,. Just the day before, Cesar Jimenez, a longtime employee at Wilton High, also died. This past Monday, another Wilton High student, whose identity hasn't been released, died by apparent suicide with a firearm in a wooded area in town. Here's what Wilton's Superintendent of Schools, Kevin Smith told ctinsider.com,

Our school community has suffered three tremendous losses in short order. People are traumatized. That comes inside a pandemic where people are suffering loss. We need to be really patient with one another. This is a time of acute stress.

A webinar for parents and students where more than 200 people attended was organized by Dr. Andrew Gerber, the President, and Medical Director of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan. There are so many emotions going around in the heads of the students right now that Gerber recommends that you listen to your children and "react in a flexible way to where they are in relation to the tragedy." Gerber also stressed that talking to children about suicide DOES NOT increase their risk of suicide.

This loss is incomprehensible and we ache for this student's family and loved ones. This student's death leaves us without words to express our grief or even attempt to understand this incredible loss.