GREENE COUNTY — Hundreds of people came together to remember a Wright State student.
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“So many of us saw ourselves in Pierre,” Eimaan Virani, president of the student government association, said.
Candles lit Wright State’s quad Tuesday night.
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Students, faculty and the community came together.
“Our students know what it feels like to be in situations of adversity. We know what it feels like to be marginalized,” Virani said.
Pierre Damas Bel died after investigators said he stepped in front of a semi in Clark County.
“I think whenever something like this affects your community directly, you feel especially called to show up,” Jahi McDonald, a student, said.
The honor student’s family said he died by suicide.
Bel was Haitian and came to the United States legally in 2024.
In July, Homeland Security required him to start wearing an ankle monitor.
His family said he became depressed because people were bullying him.
“The grief that the Haitian community’s going through is a grief that none of us should have to go through,” Virani said.
Students are asking the university to put a permanent memorial for Bel on campus.
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