Teen Girl Live-Streams Her Suicide on Facebook

A 14-year-old girl killed herself in her foster family's bathroom early Monday in Florida while live-streaming on Facebook Live, the Miami Herald reports. Police say the girl made a noose out of a scarf and hung herself from a shower door after live-streaming for two hours. A friend of the girl's saw the video on Facebook and called 911, but officers were too late after initially being sent to the wrong address. A family friend described the girl as a "smart" student who "loved to smile. According to a Herald followup, the superintendent of Miami schools blames Facebook and other social media sites for not doing more to stop kids from broadcasting suicides or bullying. He calls the girl's death "abhorrent and horrifying."

The girl's death happened the same day a 33-year-old man in Los Angeles killed himself while live-streaming on Facebook, Fox News reports. And on Dec. 30, a 12-year-old girl in Georgia killed herself in a live video posted to the website Live.me, according to Snopes. Facebook Live has also hosted videos of attempted suicides in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Ohio in just the past few weeks. Facebook says it monitors live videos to the best of its ability and has a system in place wherein if someone reports a live video showing a suicide attempt, the site can shut it down and send links to suicide-prevention services or other resources. Despite the recent headlines, the head of a suicide-prevention organization says live-streamed suicides are still uncommon. (More suicide stories.)