ADEL, Iowa — A young person took his own life this week, and many parents are concerned that the tragedy is the result of on-going bullying that has forced some students out of the district.

Currently, Adel Police are releasing limited information about the shooting as the death is still part of an on-going investigation. So far, Police have only said evidence shows the victim took his own life and that a firearm was recovered.

Parents and students at the school Thursday said the young boy was a freshman at Adel DeSoto Minburn High School, who had been bullied by older students.

After one year at ADM High, Madison Hasty opted to change schools due to the bullying she experienced. Hasty said bullying was and is a major issue at the school, one that has been constantly overlooked by administrators.

“Once I tried to report it, multiple times, after being bullied, sexually harassed, jumped multiple times and my truck was vandalized. I reported it multiple times and I was always told to keep my head down the whole time and try not to start anything because it would just make it worse. But, the more I kept my head down the worse it got,” said Hasty.

Images sent to WHO 13 by Hasty’s mother shows the bullying she suffered from while at ADM. Vulgar comments on a bathroom wall, social media messages about her appearance, vandalism to her car, and even physical attacks were just some of the things Hasty experienced.

Hasty said she repeatedly turned to school leaders for help.

“The way that they reacted was basically telling me to keep my head down and not cause problems, and it got to the point where I couldn’t come to school until 8:10 when school started at 8:15, because there would be a fight breaking out between me and the bully. I couldn’t go to the bathroom alone because I could have been jumped. And there were multiple people that I know that have been bullied, but they were all being bullied and the school did nothing about it,” said Hasty.

Hasty said there were times students were suspended for bullying, but the behavior didn’t change.

Jessica Wityk, who is friends with the family of the victim, said she now homeschools her children due to these issues.

“I actually have personal experience with bullying with our oldest daughter. I currently have an exchange student at home who comes home daily telling me how uncomfortable it is to be here, and it is really hard to hear that because this is not what I wanted for her American experience, to experience something like this,” said Wityk.

We reached out to the Adel Community School Board and ADM High School and have not received comment at the time of publish.

Parents at the school said they will be attending a school board meeting next Monday at 6 p.m. to discuss their concerns with the school board.