Texas Tech Bull Statue Impales Teenager

The Texas Tech bull statue fatally impaled a teenager during a game of hide-and-seek on Sunday.

Authorities said the boy and his friends were playing around the statue at the National Ranching Heritage Museum on the university’s campus when the accident occurred.

According to The Associated Press, the boy was impaled on one of the Texas Tech bull statue’s horns. University spokesman Chris Cook said the accident occurred around 3 am on Saturday morning. Two adults and two other youths were with him at the time.

Police believe 14-year-old Miguel Martinez was running near the Texas Tech bull statue when the horn impaled his chest. The Christian Post reports an informal memorable has been set up at the site where the teenager was killed.

Judith Leseberg, the boy’s mother, said she received the devastating news about her son’s accident from her daughter over the phone.

“She was like, ‘He’s gone.’ I was like, ‘Who took him?’ I wasn’t letting the word die. She says, ‘Mom, he’s gone, he’s not coming back,’ and I just fell to the ground,” Leseberg explained to Everything Lubbock.

Marenda Podhorsky and her family were with Miguel when he was impaled by the Texas Tech bull statue. She said her son Jeremy will dedicate part of his life to the memory of his friend. The boy reportedly held his friend until authorities arrived on the scene.

“I’m going to do everything for him because his dream was to go to the NFL and he couldn’t have that dream, so I’m going to make it happen. I took my jacket off and I put it around him, and I hope he heard me say I loved him, because the last words I heard him say were, ‘Jeremy help me,'” the boy explained.

Although police launched an investigation, it’s believed the tragedy at the Texas Tech bull statue will be declared an accident.

[Image via Wikimedia Commons]