The death of a Florida teen football star fatally struck by a freight train has been ruled a suicide, officials said.
Bryce Gowdy, 17 — a wide-receiver prospect headed to Georgia Tech — was found dead Monday after he deliberately put himself in front of the train’s path in Deerfield Beach, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
His death was ruled a suicide by the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office.
Gowdy’s mom, Shibbon Winelle, said in a video posted to her Facebook page the teen had been “talking in circles” and asking “a lot of questions about spirituality and life” in the days before his death.
She said both she and her son battled their own personal “demons,” alluding to mental health struggles.
“I said, ‘Bryce, you have to dig within and fight these demons that you’re fighting,’” Winelle said.
“I told him I wasn’t strong enough to help him right now, and I have my own demons that I was trying to fight.”
She said the family had recently become homeless and she last saw him when she asked him to get her favorite blanket from the car.
He never returned, and hours later his body was found near train tracks in Deerfield Beach.
Georgia Teach mourned Gowdy’s death in a tweet posted by the team’s coach, Geoff Collins.
“Our entire Georgia Tech football family is devastated by the news of Bryce’s passing,” Collins wrote.
“Bryce was an outstanding young man with a very bright future. He was a great friend to many, including many of our current and incoming team members. … Bryce and his family will always be a part of the Georgia Tech football family.”



