Owner of Stephenville restaurant posts suicide note to Facebook citing online bullying.
The owner of Shooterz Scratch Kitchen in Stephenville made an online post Wednesday morning announcing his plan to commit suicide over what he called extreme online bullying.
In a now-deleted message posted to the business’ Facebook page, the owner said that cruel comments made on a Rant & Rave Facebook page pushed him to make the decision to take his own life.
Captain James Gresham with the Stephenville Police Department said when they learned about the post, they immediately contacted the police department in the city where the man lived.
“We have no comment because we don’t know what happened after that,” Gresham said.
But someone with information about the case told Beneath the Surface News that the man is alive and was transferred to a Fort Worth hospital, but that information has not been verified by family members or the authorities.
But I certainly hope it’s true.
A CRY FOR HELP
The lengthy post was emotional and difficult to read, but what’s crystal clear is that it was written by a man who had reached his tipping point.
Calling the Rant & Rave page “dangerous,” the man stated that he endured repeated lies about his citizenship and business practices - with no evidence to back up any of the claims.
He said people began spreading rumors that he wasn’t an American and threatened to kill his wife and kids.
He said he asked police and city officials for help but was told that since it is a public page, there was nothing they could do.
“I, as a small business owner from Stephenville, TX purchased a business SHOOTERZ Scratch Kitchen right after Covid January 1st 2022 and Business started good & just later few months did i discover that people of color or people with accent would be not welcomed in this city by majority,” he wrote.
“(Then) I found out there was a page on FB called Rant & Rave Stephenville & that page is dangerous page in my opinion - I was on that page too many times that I was painted that I was most racial owner ever - and all this said with no evidence to prove.”
A reader who is a member of Erath County Rant & Rave sent me a copy of a post about Shooterz made in July.
It stated: “Someone please buy Shooterz and change it back to the way it used to be.”
And while several people defended the restaurant, there were plenty of others who jumped on the hate bandwagon, badmouthing the food and service.
“Every-time I remodel the place to make it look better, I would go on that rant & rave Erath FB page and be bashed really bad & just kept quiet reading the bully statements and that’s where the love start leaving my soul,” he wrote.
“If they don’t take down those statements after this goes, viral I invite you to read them all - being accused of things that were never true - because if it was true I would have been sued, all this because I wasn’t a real American in someone’s eyes.”
He went on to apologize for his post, calling it “confusing” and “not written well.”
“But as you are about to take your own life in order to escape hate, I did my best to describe my pain and it wasn’t easy, this took my hope and all I am left is pain, scared, feared, I saw no other way.”
He ended his message by tagging CNN and Fox News and asking them to investigate the online bullying that pushed him over the edge.
“My soul is screaming for help so bad,” he wrote. “God please forgive me. I love America so much and the un-proper hate took my dream away and it split me away from my family.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health-related stress, contact the suicide and crisis lifeline by dialing 988.
