The death of another Los Osos High School boy rocked the town of Rancho Cucamonga, California, in a tragic and painful sequence of events. A promising young man named Connor Forten tragically took his own life on the 210 freeway, becoming the second student from the same school to kill himself on the same freeway in less than three weeks. The tragic event comes after Emily Gold, a cheerleader and senior student, took her own life on the same stretch of road under similar circumstances earlier. All of these events put the community into a deep state of mourning, introspection and demands for more awareness of the mental health issues facing today's children.
The serious morning incident on the 210 freeway
Emergency services were dispatched to Interstate 210, also known as the “Foothill Freeway,” on a dreary Thursday morning after receiving multiple reports of a jumper. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) said that just before jumping onto the freeway below, someone was located close to the Haven Avenue overpass. The person, later identified as 17-year-old Connor Forten, a student at Los Osos High School, was pronounced dead at the scene despite the efforts of first responders.
The sad incident resulted in the closure of many lanes of the highway to allow police, emergency services and detectives to respond to the scene, which immediately caused severe traffic delays. The incident caused a traffic bottleneck that left hundreds of drivers delayed because they did not know the full extent of the disaster. The news of the event immediately spread throughout the neighborhood through social networks and news sources.
The fact that Connor died just eighteen days after young lives were lost in almost the same way was enough to subdue the sensibilities of many. On this same stretch of highway, Emily Gold, her Los Osos High School classmate, who had recently become famous after appearing on the hit television show “America's Got Talent,” took her own life. The town of Rancho Cucamonga, and especially the school community, is still reeling from both incidents, experiencing intense sadness, bewilderment and a deep sense of loss.
