Teen Who Set Himself on Fire at School Succumbs to Injuries (VIDEO)
The teenage boy who set himself on fire while at school in Colorado has succumbed to his injures just two weeks after the incident. Vincent Nett had burns over 80 percent of his body; half of those burns were third-degree, and he passed away on Sunday.
Nett entered the cafeteria at Standley Lake High School on January 27, carrying a 1-gallon fuel jug. He set himself on fire in the presence of more than 60 students. He allegedly also drank bleach, adding even more internal injuries to those he suffered from the fire. Thankfully, no one else was injured during the incident, although a school worker was cut while trying to retrieve a fire extinguisher.
"I could see the kid in the flames," Kian Karp, a freshman at the school, told the Denver Post. "He was standing and it was almost like he was dancing around in the fire."
When firefighters appeared on the scene, the fire had been put out, but Nett was in bad shape. The school was evacuated and students sent home for the rest of the day. Counselors were made available in the wake of the fire and have again been made available in the aftermath of Nett's death.
"We don't have any indication that there's any threat against the high school," Westminster Police Department spokeswoman Cheri Spottke said in a public statement after the incident. "We do believe that this is a suicide attempt."
"This is not someone's fault, I had this planned for years so shut your face if you think that this was because of something recent or because of someone," Nett posted on his Facebook page before lighting himself on fire. "If anyone says that they know why I did this … nobody knows and nobody will. There was nothing that anyone could have done."
Students described Nett as depressed but said that he was not bullied before lighting himself on fire.
