Brandy Vela’s family says cyberbullying pushed the 18-year-old over the edge, leading her to shoot herself in the chest Tuesday afternoon at the family’s Texas City home as family members watched.

Her father, Raul Vela, said she had been receiving abusive text messages for months from bullies using an untraceable smartphone application. Her father said someone made a fake Facebook page of her, creating another cyberbullying medium.

On Tuesday, Brandy sent an email to her family members telling them she was going to kill herself, CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV reports. They rushed home and found her alive.

“We tried to persuade her to put the gun down, but she was determined,” Raul Vela told KHOU-TV. “She said she’d come too far to turn back. It was very unfortunate that I had to see that. It’s hard when your daughter tells you to turn around. You feel helpless.”

	Created by Kira Sanchez about 6 years ago

Slide Set on CYBER BULLYING, created by Kira Sanchez on 14/11/2018.