Community Corner

Northbrook Grappling with 2 Recent Suicides of Young Men

Two young men and their families were remembered last night during a public gathering at the Village Presbyterian Church.

On the heels of earlier this month, Northbrook is greiving over the death of another young person, Ryan McCarthy, a Glenbrook North alumni, who committed suicide at his home on Wednesday. He was 20. 

The  has scheduled a public gathering tonight at 7:30 p.m. for people to pay respects to both men and their families. 

"Anyone who would like to come is more than welcome to come and talk and pray and be together," said Mike Nevling, senior pastor at Village Presbyterian. "We need to be there and affirm love for one another, affirm community for one another, affirm life for one another."

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According to the Cook County Medical Examiner, both deaths were ruled a suicide. 

Northbrook resident Kati Spaniak and Patch blogger is grappling with the back-to-back deaths.

Find out what's happening in Northbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We are in a stunned silence. Scared for our own children and our own sense of peace. But we aren’t quite sure what to do about it," Spaniak . "There must be something there that we all are missing. These are loving, caring and involved parents."

John Conlin, a licensed clinical psychologist, wrote about the two suicides in a blog post Thursday: "Many questions remain, if social network posts are any indication parents are on edge and I'm sure all of us hope there will be no more suicides.  Time will tell."

While the community is absorbing the news, McCarthy is being remembered as a popular, friendly student at Glenbrook North.

“He was always a happy guy and had a lot of friends. He would always go out of his way to say ‘Hello!’ if he knew you and saw you in the hallway," McCarthy's classmate, Jenna Morreale, told the Sun-Times.

Paul Pryma, principal of Glenbrook North, spoke to the Sun-Times about McCarthy as well.

“Ryan was known for playing lacrosse during his years here," he said. “Our love and prayers go to his family."


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