SUMMARY: Brad Matthew Fuglei, a 19-year-old who organized gay rights rallies at his high school in Omaha, died in an apparent suicide last Friday.
Brad Matthew Fuglei, a 19-year-old who organized gay rights rallies at his high school in Omaha, Neb., died in an apparent suicide last Friday, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Family, friends and members of the community were reportedly "bewildered" as to why the talented, upbeat 2001 graduate of North High School would take his life.
Omaha police report that Fuglei was found by his mother in the driver's seat of his car, which was parked in the garage and running. A suicide note was found in the house, but details were not released.
Fuglei reportedly came out at the age of 14, and he worked with several Gay Straight Alliances in area schools. Last year he participated in an unsuccessful attempt to add sexual orientation to a nondiscrimination policy in the Millard school district.
In 1998, the World-Herald published a feature article on Fuglei and his organizing of a local vigil in memory of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who had been brutally murdered in Wyoming.
At North High School, Fuglei was senior class president and elected homecoming king last year. He performed in several theatrical productions and was a member of the National Honor Society.
By Tuesday, dozens of postings on the World-Herald Web site paid tribute to the young man's talents and kindness; many also expressed shock over his death.
Andrea Flanagan, a Creighton University law student who didn't know Fuglei, wrote: "We should all be extremely concerned about what we have lost here. We as individuals, we as strangers, we as a community. We have lost a bright soul, a shining star, someone who made such a difference in his short lifetime yet has left us wondering … what could have been?" Police ask friends of gay man's killer to come forward
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