Teen behind ‘laser cat’ yearbook photo dies, aged 17

THE New York high school senior responsible for the laser cat internet sensation has died of an apparent suicide on Thursday, his parents said.

‘Laser cat’ teen dies, aged 17

THE New York high school senior responsible for the laser cat internet sensation has died of an apparent suicide on Thursday, his parents said.

The parents of Draven Rodriguez, 17 told the Times Union that he took his own life at his home.

Rodriguez and his cat Mr. Bigglesworth became international news after he tried to include the pet in his Schenectady High School yearbook photo.

The photo of the teenager and Bigglesworth with a crisscrossing laser-beam background went viral after he posted it on Facebook in what he called a “pre-emptive strike” against stodgy school officials.

“I don’t want to go in the yearbook with the generic ‘I-look-like-everyone-else’ photo,” Rodriguez said last year. “I wanted a ‘He looks great. Only he would try that’ photo,” he said. “When people look at it, they will know that was me.”

School principal Diane Wilkinson nixed the portrait, but eventually relented, joining him with her pet Chihuahua in a portrait that ran on the principal’s own page.

“He made friends wherever he went,” Rodriguez’s father, Jonathan Stewart, told the Times Union. “He had friends all over the country — people he’d met at youth-leadership conferences, online, just around town.”

Tributes from shocked friends began pouring onto Rodriguez’s Facebook page over the weekend.

This article first appeared in The New York Post.

If you or someone you know needs help, contact beyondblue on 1300 224 636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14