[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
An Oklahoma teen is dead after a senseless outburst of violence.
On Friday, February 8, nonbinary 16-year-old Nex Benedict took their final breaths in a hospital just one day after reportedly becoming the victim of a violent attack. According to KJRH, Owasso Police Department officers were called to the Bailey Medical Center on February 7 by Nex’s parents, where the late teen’s mother revealed they had been involved in a fight at Owasso High School. The teen was discharged from the hospital that same night, and it seemed like things would be OK — or at least eventually settle down — for a while. However, Nex was apparently then was rushed back to the hospital on the following day where they passed away. So incredibly sad.
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Cops are still trying to figure out what happened regarding the fight and whatever else led to the teen’s death. However, KJRH got a tip from an anonymous source who claimed to be the mother of Nex’s best friend. She told the outlet the day after Nex’s death that a traumatic brain injury was apparently involved:
“I think complications from brain trauma, head trauma, is what caused it.”
WTF…
She didn’t specifically name Nex, but shared the victim was a high school sophomore, and was allegedly beaten by three older girls in the school’s bathroom:
“I know at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [their] head across the floor.”
Police say they will will release more information on Nex’s cause of death once they get medical reports. On Tuesday, Nex’s grandmother, who they primarily lived with, told The Independent that the teen had been getting bullied since the start of the 2023 school year. That was in the wake of the state’s head education official Ryan Walters favoring anti-LGBTQ+ policies, like requiring students to use the bathroom associated with the gender on their birth certificate.
Since Nex’s death, they have been repeatedly misgendered and deadnamed, leading to the official X (Twitter) account of the Oklahoma County Democrats to speak out:
As many are learning of the horrific news out of Owasso, OK, many news outlets, and therefore, many of you, are using their dead name.
Their name is Nex Benedict.
They were a 4.0 student. They liked cats. They were Cherokee. They deserved to live.
May they find peace now.
— OK County Democrats (@OklaCountyDemos) February 19, 2024
R.I.P. Nex. We hope to hear more solid answers and to see justice soon. What a shocking and heartbreaking situation — and someone so young. Absolutely crushing. For now, you can visit their GoFundMe page HERE.
To learn more about how you can help the LGBTQ+ community, check out https://www.glaad.org/.
[Images via Kasandra Phelps/GoFundMe & KJRH-TV/YouTube]
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