Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in mourning after two student suicides

The Shawnee Mission Northwest High school community is mourning the deaths of two students who died by suicide two days apart.

According to the district, Shawnee Police determined the deaths to be unrelated.

School officials identified a student who died Monday as Steven Cohenour. A second student who died Wednesday morning has yet to be identified.

Neither student died on school property.

Sgt. Chris Pennington of the Johnson County park police said Cohenour died at Shawnee Mission Park on Monday afternoon.

Cohenour’s family issued a statement through the school district.

It read:

“There are no words to express the depths of our loss and we realize that there are many in the SMNW community that were also touched by the light that we knew as Steven. Thank you for all of your thoughts and expressions of support. We hope that all can celebrate his life, remembering his friendship and laughter. We can only move through this time of grief one step at a time, depending on each other as one big family.”

The district said in a statement that additional counselors, social workers and other staff would be dispatched to the high school.

It reminded students that they can reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK or text to 741741.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in mourning after two student suicides."