"I wish I could say something that would make kids think about what they do," said [Drew's father] Paul [O'Brien]. "It's like it's a video game and you can take it back, but you can't.
"They just see this short-term fix. In a sense I have to say I'm so angry with him. All this pain we're going through. And my daughters are just devastated.
"I think he knew how much we loved him. It's just that kids get in this funk and they drink and they get heartbreak with their girl and the next thing you know they do something stupid like this."
Paul O'Brien says several of Drew's Bethel classmates had already committed suicide, but that Drew appeared to be on the upswing in the city.
"He could tend to get in a funk over relationships, and I'd talk to him about it," Paul said. "He had a good friend three or four years ago who committed suicide. We talked about it, and I tried to stay aware of his mental state."
"I think some of these kids, especially some with Yup'ik blood, they drink too much and they get into this state to where they truly black out. But yet they're functional.
"They just get in some mental place, and it's like their only way out and I don't understand it."
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