Posted on 03/19/2005 12:01:46 AM PST by tang-soo
Neb. Prodigy, 14, Dies in Apparent Suicide
By JOE RUFF : Associated Press Writer Mar 18, 2005 : 8:04 pm ET
OMAHA, Neb. -- A musical prodigy who completed high school at age 10 apparently killed himself at 14, authorities said.
Brandenn E. Bremmer, who taught himself how to read at 18 months and began playing the piano at 3, was found dead Tuesday at his home in southwest Nebraska with a gunshot wound to the head, sheriff's officials said.
Patricia Bremmer said her son showed no signs of depression, had just finished the art for the cover of a second CD of his music, and had plans for Wednesday. She did not disclose details of how he was found.
"We're rationalizing now," she said. "He had this excessive need to help people and teach people. ... He was so connected with the spiritual world, we felt he could hear people's needs and desires and their cries. We just felt like something touched him that day and he knew he had to leave" so his organs could be donated.
She said Brandenn's kidneys went to two people, his liver to a 22-month old and his heart to an 11-year-old boy.
Brandenn had decided in December he wanted to be an anesthesiologist, his mother said. He started taking a biology class at Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte, where he had also taken courses in 2001. She said he had planned to eventually attend the University of Nebraska.
Reached at home late Friday afternoon, Perkins County Sheriff James D. Brueggeman said the investigation was ongoing and declined to comment.
David Wohl, one of Brandenn's professors at Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colo., where he had been taking classes and lessons since age 11, said Friday he was shocked to learn of Brandenn's apparent suicide.
Wohl, who last saw Brandenn in December, recalled him as an unpretentious young man who had an easy smile. "He wasn't just talented, he was just a really nice young man," Wohl said.
Brandenn was home-schooled through high school and completed his junior and senior years in seven months. For his high school graduation photo, Brandenn darkened his hair, wore round wire-rimmed glasses, and threw on a red cape to look like one of his favorite characters -- Harry Potter.
Like most kids at that age, he loved cartoons, playing video games and going swimming. But he also loved playing the piano and began taking independent study classes at CSU because he was interested in the school's music department.
The rank speculation about this tragedy is what one would expect to find on DU
Bingo. I used to work as a youth minister and I used to ge so frustrated with our state and national level youth events. They felt they had to educate the kids on the plight of the homeless, the Palestinians, whatever minorities were popular at the time, children with AIDS in Africa.... All these are things to be concerned about, but teens have enough on their plates without being burdened by the big problems even the adults cannot seem to solve.
yeaaahhhhhhhhhhh....rriiigghhttttt....thats just friggin creepy coming from a parent
You got that right! I will never forget a trip my grandparents thought would be "educational" for me, and took me to Mexico. I was (maybe still am?) traumatized by the little 2 yr olds selling chiclets on the street, while in rags.
What some forget is that the very bright among us can aslo be too sensitive. Intelligence (IQ) is spread across all kinds of temperaments. Sensitivity/Perception with a high IQ really can be too much for a young brain, unless it is protected from all the evil spread by the media.
Being a "genius", in IQ terms, means very little. This poor kid may have been both a "genius" in his ability to grasp academic subjects, and able to comprehend the human tragedy, but not able to process it intellectuallly.
That, I suspect, is/was where he became overwhelmed. Parents who have gifted children often are not as sensitive themselves, and have no idea what their children are struggling with/suffering.
I know, for I have been there, done that, escaped, survived, yada, yada.
Raised my gifted children very differently than I was... and they are doing well, but it is not as simple to do this as you might think...
May the Lord be with his family.
What a sad story.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, especially the part about being ultra-sensitive. They (geniuses) seem to have a special insight into things that "normal" (for lack of a better term) people don't have. I knew a guy in high school who was exceptionally bright and he too committed suicide. Very sad.
http://www.windcallenterprises.com/Windcall%20Enterprises,%20About%20the%20author.htm
here is the link.. the html didn't transpose.. sorry all
ping
BTTT
Thanks for the ping!
What a tragic story.
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