Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, died by suicide on Dec. 15 at the age of 26, his family announced. In a Facebook post, his sister, Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen, said Donovan “committed suicide after a seven-year battle with schizophrenia,” calling the loss “a sorrow beyond words.”

"The loss of our family's youngest child is a sorrow beyond words — one that will echo through our lives, forever," his family shared on a GoFundMe page that was created to help cover the Metayer's funeral expenses, as well as a mental health fund in his name to support people with behavioral-health needs in Florida. 

"Yet even in our grief, we are choosing to speak Donovan's truth, so that other families do not have to suffer in silence the way we have," the family continued.

Metayer — a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a gunman killed 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018 — struggled with severe mental health issues in the years after the attack, his family said. They described repeated hospitalizations, long periods of isolation, and a 2021 involuntary treatment episode under Florida’s Baker’s Act (a law enforcement official, health professional, or judge placed him on a temporary, involuntary mental health hold for crisis evaluation and stabilization. The Baker Act also temporarily barred him from purchasing a firearm.)

The family shared that Metayer later found some stability through care at Henderson Behavioral Health and with a private psychologist, and he ended up earning an IT certificate and working at Office Depot.

According to reports, the family said that Donovan’s Risk Protection Order lapsed earlier this month and he was able to legally purchase a firearm. He died by suicide a week later.

"Donny often masked his pain to not burden those he loved, even as our family fought alongside him," his family wrote. "Finding care through limited resources, systemic barriers, and the realities of navigating mental health crises as a young Black man made his path all the more steep."

The family continued, "Donny’s passing is a heartbreaking reminder of the mental health crisis plaguing our youth and the lasting trauma of gun violence on our community. As we grieve his loss, we are breaking the code of silence in his memory."

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.