SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Students at Otay Ranch High School Monday are mourning the death of a fellow classmate.
Police say 17-year-old Steven Liu took his own life Friday by jumping off a bridge near the school.
One thing that's clear is that Liu is deeply missed.
"I wanted to pay my respects ... I felt that it was the right thing to do," classmate Alyssa Griebel said.
Victoria Payne left her running shoes at the memorial. After all, it was Steven who got her into the sport.
"He knew I wanted to do a sport, and so he was like you should try track. It's such an amazing experience and you're going to meet so many new people. I thank him for convincing me to join track," Payne said.
The candles, the shoes, the many personal messages, they were all for a teenager who took his own life Friday by jumping off a bridge next to Otay Ranch High School. All the kids we spoke to said it was bullying that pushed him over the edge.
"It was very common around school that he was being bullied. And no one ever knew because he was always smiling. He never told anyone. We didn't know who it was because if we asked him, he wouldn't even tell us their name," Payne said.
"I was angry someone would do that to him, like push him to that extent. You don't do that to a person, that's not human," classmate Ivette Barajas said.
The district says they take bullying very seriously and say in this case there's no evidence of it. Richard Martinez says whatever the cause, he hopes other troubled students know there's always help.
"I want them to know they can go to anyone for help. It's not the answer, suicide isn't the answer. I know sometimes they're blinded by what they're going through and they think that nobody cares about them, but that's not true," Martinez said.
