A Parkland school shooting survivor died Monday after a yearslong mental health battle following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, who was a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a shooter killed 17 people and injured 18 others, died by suicide Monday after what his family called a “years-long battle with schizophrenia.” He was 26.
According to a GoFundMe set up by Metayer’s family, Metayer began to withdraw after the mass shooting and dealt with “depression, guilt, emotional instability, and long periods of isolation.”
“The trauma of that day and the loss of classmates lingered long after graduation and profoundly altered the course of his life.”
Metayer was hospitalized for suicidal ideation several times throughout the years. “He struggled to accept a mental health diagnosis,” the GoFundMe reads. “Treatment—therapy, medication, and constant adjustments—was a journey marked by exhaustion. Donny often masked his pain to not burden those he loved, even as our family fought alongside him. Finding care through limited resources, systemic barriers, and the realities of navigating mental health crises as a young Black man made his path all the more steep.”