An Oregon teen was taken off life support a week after he attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself from playground equipment at an elementary school.

Jadin Bell, 15, was driven to take his own life because he was bullied for being homosexual, according to his family.

Officials at Bell's school, La Grande High School, said they were investigating reports that Jadin was being bullied at the time that he hung himself.

Hundreds of students had turned out to honor Jadin Bell, a sophomore at La Grande High School, at a vigil last week while he was still fighting for his life in the hospital.

Family friend Bud Hill believes that Jadin was pushed to suicide after being bullied, both online and in person, for being gay.

'He was different, and they tend to pick on the different ones,' Hill told KOMO News.

Jadin was afraid to turn in the bullies...afraid that it would only make the situation worse. He had asked his parents to homeschool him.

'If someone was down and out he would walk into a room and say a couple quick words and everybody would just forget about their problems and smile,' Hill added. 'He just had a gift.'

"Jadin is one of the best people I have ever met," LHS junior Frankie Benitez told the La Grande Observer. "He makes everyone around him feel good all the time."

A close family friend, Jody Bullock runs an adult assisted living home for seniors said that Jadin came over frequently and always made a point of saying hello to her residents and talking with them. Bullock said it is unusual for young people to do this, noting that often young people are afraid of seniors.

“He is an amazing young man who is smart and very social,” Bullock said. “He has a persona and a presence that you want to be a part of,” she said.

“We always knew that Jadin is a special person," said Jadin's mother, Lola Lathrop, "Now everyone knows.”

After the jump, some helpful resources for young people contemplating suicide, their parents, and educators.

Continue reading »

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC reports:

Israeli soldiers have been accused of punching two Reuters cameramen and forcing them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of them needing hospital treatment.

Israel's military said Thursday it took the allegations seriously.

"The regional brigade commander was ordered to open an investigation," Israeli Defense Forces spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said in an email.

Yousri Al Jamal and Ma'amoun Wazwaz said a foot patrol stopped them on Wednesday in the heart of Hebron as they were driving to a nearby checkpoint where a Palestinian teenager had just been shot dead by an Israeli border guard.

Their car was clearly marked "TV" and they were both wearing blue flak jackets with "Press" emblazoned on the front."

"We deplore the mistreatment of our journalists and have registered our extreme dismay with the Israeli military authorities," said Stephen J. Adler, editor-in-chief of Reuters News.

These are difficult times for journalists, with record numbers now imprisoned in various nations:

"Imprisonment of journalists worldwide reached a record high in 2012, driven in part by the widespread use of charges of terrorism and other anti-state offenses against critical reporters and editors, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, CPJ identified 232 individuals behind bars on December 1, an increase of 53 over its 2011 tally."

And then there is the "Death Watch":

"They call it the Death Watch. The International Press Institute, which is based in Austria, for 15 years has tracked the number of professional journalists around the world killed on the job.

With a month to go in 2012, the institute says 123 journalists have been killed this year. That breaks the old, grisly record of 110 who died in 2009.

Journalists sometimes die while traveling or covering combat. But the vast majority killed this year were targeted for death, said Naomi Hunt, senior press freedom adviser for the institute.

“It is widely accepted that journalist killings continue because the killers get away with it and gangs, armed militias and terrorist organizations and individual criminals all enjoy broad impunity,” Hunt said via email. “Journalists are at the most risk in countries where the government is unwilling or unable to put a stop to the killings.”'

This year, the three most deadly countries for journalists are:

• Syria, 36 deaths (about 30 percent of journalist deaths worldwide). In its deadly civil war, both sides are fighting not just for territory but for local and international opinion.

• Somalia, 16 deaths. The battle between an Islamist insurgent group and a fragile government has created lawlessness throughout this country in eastern Africa.

• Mexico, seven deaths. Journalists are vulnerable to attacks from drug cartels or corrupt public officials beholden to the cartels.