Mom responds to Jaheem Herrera bullying report

By Kristina Torres

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The mother of 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera responded Friday to an investigation’s findings about her son’s suicide, saying “life is complex. No one can deny what happened to my son.”

DeKalb County school officials released an investigation report Wednesday. It said Jaheem’s death could not be attributed solely to “a simplistic case of bullying.”

A number of complex and significant factors impacted his life, the report said, including “serious domestic abuse” of Jaheem’s mother, Masika Bermudez, by her longtime boyfriend, Norman Keene.

It was the first time family violence charges were documented and presented as a possible factor in the boy’s emotional state.

“Don’t listen to them,” Bermudez said Friday, speaking only briefly during a news conference called by family attorney Gerald Griggs. “All I want is justice.”

Griggs called the abuse a “non-issue. It’s an attempt to bully Jaheem twice.” He had said earlier that past incidents of violence against Bermudez have no bearing on the case.

State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Ellenwood) and former Atlanta city councilman Derrick Boazman also spoke in defense of Bermudez’s position.

Jaheem hanged himself at home April 16.

Bermudez insists Jaheem killed himself after being constantly bullied at Dunaire Elementary School in Stone Mountain.

DeKalb officials hired retired Fulton Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore to lead an investigation into Bermudez’s claims.

Griggs is pursuing a lawsuit on behalf of Bermudez alleging negligence by Dunaire school officials. He said Friday that he is trying to involve federal justice department officials in the case.