The Death of Jeremy Wade Delle

TW⚠️ : This case talks about suicide. If this is a sensitive or triggering topic for you, please skip this post.

Jeremy Wade Delle was a 15 year old boy who committed suicide in front of his English class in 1991. His death was the inspiration behind the popular Pearl Jam song “Jeremy”.

Jeremy Wade Delle was born on February 10, 1975. Before his death, Jeremy was dealing with multiple issues, both at home and at school. Jeremy’s parents were going through a divorce and his father eventually got custody of him. Because of the turmoil with his family, Jeremy lacked attention from his parents, causing him to have depression and anxiety. Jeremy was said to be attending counseling at the time of his death because he had a history of attempting suicide and some issues with drugs.

Jeremy had only been attending Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas for about 2 months when he committed suicide. At this school, Jeremy was described by his peers to be “real quiet” and “acted sad”, but this obviously was not an act. His teacher also described him to be a “loner.” A classmate that Jeremy met during in-school suspension named Lisa Moore said that she and Jeremy would often write notes to each other. She said Jeremy would always sign his notes with “Write back.” But on Monday, Jeremy signed with, “Later days,”, much to Lisa’s confusion. She eventually came to understand what Jeremy meant by that statement.

On January 8, 1991, Jeremy arrived late to his 2nd period English class, to which his teacher Ms. Barnett asked him to go to the office to get a late pass. At this, Jeremy went to his locker and grabbed a .357 Magnum revolver before returning back to class. When he returned, Jeremy told his teacher that he, “got what [he] really went for.” He then stood at the front of the class, took out the revolver, and put the barrel in his mouth. Before anyone could react, Jeremy pulled the trigger and killed himself in front of his teacher and 30 other students.

The young students and teacher were obviously shocked and terrified by what they had just witnessed. Some students out in the hall recall hearing a loud pop, “like somebody had just slammed a book on a desk,” before hearing the screams of the other students. The students were taken out of the class and met with the school district’s volunteer crisis team for grief counseling. When police arrived, they tried to resuscitate Jeremy, but it was much too late.

A newspaper article about Jeremy’s suicide

Further investigations found that Jeremy had taken the revolver from a female acquaintance of his father’s, unbeknownst to her or his father. A girl who attended church with Jeremy stated that Jeremy had been “looking for love and wasn’t quite sure how to find it.” The two had become acquainted and open with each other. Before his death, Jeremy gave the girl a letter and asked her to give it to another friend. The letter was revealed to contain a suicide note.

After reading about Jeremy’s tragic death in the newspaper, Pearl Jam’s vocalist Eddie Vedder was inspired to write the song “Jeremy”. In an interview, Eddie stated that he “felt the need to take that small article and make something of it—to give that action, to give it reaction, to give it more importance.”

What happened to Jeremy is very saddening and tragic for everyone involved. We can learn from this to reach out and check on others because we never know what kind of battles they are fighting within themselves.