Channing Smith Bio, Wiki
Channing Smith is a 16-year-old Tennesee boy who died on September 22nd, 2019 by suicide after he was outed for being bisexual on social media, his family claims.
Channing Smith Education
Channing Smith was a junior at Coffee County Central High School in Manchester. He wanted to be an engineer and loved motorcycles, punk rock music, and Corvettes had not openly discussed his sexuality or identified as LGBTQ, according to his girlfriend and brother.
Channing Smith Brother’s Statement
His brother, Joshua Smith said the friend and a female classmate shared the screenshots of the conversation on Instagram and Snapchat.
Joshua Smith wrote on Facebook. The teenager killed himself after discovering that sexually explicit messages he exchanged with another boy had been shared on social media by classmates who wanted to “humiliate and embarrass” him.
“They did it to just completely humiliate and embarrass my brother,” Channing’s brother told WZTV. “Being in a small, rural town in the middle of Tennessee, you can imagine being the laughing stock and having to go to school Monday morning.”
He said that Channing called the girl who posted the screenshots and told her that he was going to commit suicide. But the girl didn’t tell anyone about the teen’s plans — and he took his own life within hours of the bullying incident.
“He couldn’t face the humiliation that was waiting on him when he got to school on Monday, so he shot and killed himself,” Joshua told the outlet.
The family is now putting pressure on the Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott to file charges against the teen’s bullies.
“I was told by the lead investigator in Coffee County that he was pushing to have the kids charged criminally and the District Attorney’s office has decided that they did not want to pursue it,” Joshua said.
Channing Smith Girlfriend (Hailey Meister)
Channing Smith was dating Hailey Meister. According to BuzzFeed News, Meister said she had been dating Channing for about a month before he killed himself. She said the messages were old and posted only “to humiliate him.”
In a statement to BuzzFeed, Meister said, “He didn’t deserve that. He was kind and loving and a very good person,” she added that when the messages hit social media, Channing told her “how bad it made him feel and it was a mistake…he was trying to find himself and people called him bisexual but he never classified specifically as that.”
District Attorney Statement
The district attorney said his office is still investigating the events surrounding the teen’s death. “My office has encouraged, cooperated in and supported the investigation into the events leading to this death,” Northcott told news station WTVF.
“Ethically, I am prohibited from commenting on an open investigation or prosecution. However, procedurally, no charging decisions have been made by my office nor has the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department asked for a decision since the investigation has not been completed.”
Channing Smith Death & Cause
Channing Smith fatally shot himself on September 22nd, 2019 after classmates exposed screenshots online of him confiding in a pal about his sexuality.
Reaction to Channing Smith Death
Channing Smith’s death continues to send shock waves through his community, with his family accusing the local district attorney, who has previously stated anti-LGBT views, of failing to seriously investigate the incident. The news even caught the attention of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, who made a trip to Manchester on Sunday, September 29th to perform at a memorial for Channing.
Wearing a white T-shirt with the words “#JusticeForChanning,” Cyrus was joined onstage by Channing’s father for a rendition of “Amazing Grace,” the teen’s favorite song.
“My heart breaks for Channing, his family, his friends, and the community,” Cyrus tweeted on Friday. “This is the saddest story. … Enough is enough.”
https://twitter.com/billyraycyrus/status/1177776874132516864
