The death of a 10-year-old boy found unresponsive in a bathroom at his suburban Chicago school appears to be a suicide, authorities said.
The Cook County medical examiner's office made the ruling Wednesday after an autopsy and said the boy, a student at fifth-grader at Oakton Elementary in Evanston, died by hanging.
The boy was found unresponsive in a restroom Tuesday afternoon and was pronounced dead Wednesday at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
"It's devastating," said school board member Jerome Summers. "Nobody anticipates the death of their child when they send their kid to school."
School janitor Elliott Lieteau said that when he entered the restroom he found the boy lying on the floor. He said he was told other people had pulled the boy off a hook. He said he performed CPR.
Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther said at a news conference Wednesday that boy's death was "an isolated incident" and no other children were in danger.
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Superintendent Hardy Murphy said it wasn't clear when the boy left his class to go to the restroom. There are no security cameras inside the school.
Police and school officials refused to discuss details of the death.