DUNWOODY, Ga. — Dozens of students gathered in a park near Dunwoody High School on Wednesday to remember the teenager who died on campus Monday.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in Brook Run Park as students released blue balloons, Mia Dieguez’s favorite color.
Students hugged, cried and shared stories of their friend, but no one knows for certain what killed her.
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Her family told Fernandes that they believe her death had to do with drugs being sold at the school.
“I’m still trying to comprehend everything and what I could’ve done different to make sure she wasn’t taking any drugs,” her sister and legal guardian Pamela Dieguez said over the phone.
Pamela Dieguez says her 15-year-old sister told her that she was buying painkillers from a student at school, so she called the school hours before her sister died.
“I did call them on Monday morning to warn them that my sister came up to me and told me, ‘Yes, someone is selling the drugs,’ to them at school and I feel like when I called that morning, the first thing they should’ve done was went to go check on my sister. I feel like if they did check on her, then she would’ve still at least been here or at least in the hospital getting cleaned up. I feel like I wouldn’t be burying my sister,” Pamela Dieguez said.
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School police arrested another student and charged him with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.
Fernandes knocked on the suspect’s door, but no one answered. His mother called later and said she feels bad for the victim’s family and had no idea her son was mixed up in this.
Pamela Dieguez believes the school is partly responsible if everything happened on campus.
“Hopefully it doesn’t take someone else to pass away before they realize that what they’re buying or selling isn’t good,” she said.
The suspect’s mother told Fernandes that her son is still in custody.
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