TOCHIGI (TR) – Two high school girls died in a plunge from a building in Ashikaga City on Friday in what police are viewing as a double suicide, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 12).
At around 8:50 p.m., a member of the school’s baseball team found the girls, both second-year students, collapsed on the grounds of the school after hearing a loud sound. They were both confirmed dead at a nearby hospital, according to police.
On the seventh floor of a building near where the discovery was made, shoes were found lined up — which often signifies that a person has committed suicide — at an open window, officials of the school said.
Officials added that the students attended class without incident earlier that day. However, a school staff meeting that took place on Saturday covered whether or not both girls had been bullied in the past.
According to deputy head teacher Toshihiko Baba, the female nurse on staff said at the meeting that both girls felt left on as far as group activities involving classmates.
“While cooperating with the police investigation, we would like to examine the reason for why the female students died,” a representative of the school said, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun (May 13).
