The death of William Ganns shook not only his loved ones, but also his friends and classmates at Germantown High School.

Most described the 18-year-old senior as a happy, outgoing young man, set to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.

Why Ganns opted to end his life by hanging himself Monday in the school's auditorium goes without an answer as his family prepares to bury him next Tuesday.

Still, signals of suicide among young Black men such as Ganns often go undetected even by those closest to them, experts say.

Whereas Black females aged 15-19 are among the least likely to commit suicide (about three per 100,000) suicide rates for their male counterparts have risen to as high as six times that number in recent years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

"We say that girls get depressed and get emotional problems, and boys don't and can tough it out," said Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, the noted Harvard psychiatrist. "Statistics on suicide indicate that's absolutely not so."

Poussaint, associate dean for student affairs at Harvard Medical School, co-authored "Lay My Burden Down: Unraveling Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African-Americans" (Beacon, 2000).

Girls tend to gravitate toward friends, family, church or other social institutions, whereas boys increasingly seem isolated when mental anguish strikes.

To the best recollection of the family and friends of Ganns, he demonstrated few of the classic traits of a potential suicide victim.

A night student, he was scheduled to graduate next month, and he mentored other students as he prepared for college.

Six students found him hanging, unconscious, near the stage in the auditorium. Despite the efforts of a school nurse, doctors pronounced him dead shortly after he was transported to the hospital.

Alfonso Cannon of Cannon Funeral Home in North Philadelphia said his firm is donating its services to the family. The funeral will be held at New Covenant Church on Germantown Avenue.

"We have to look at all clues," Poussaint said. "It shouldn't just be a smile. That can be easily faked. Look at the totality of the behavior."

Anger, aggressiveness and impulsiveness, often deemed as normal, albeit undesirable, behavior for young Black men, can be as symptomatic as lethargy or loss of appetite when it comes to fatalism, Poussaint said.

Whereas at one time those elements pointed toward homicide, increasingly, they are manifesting in suicides.

Black men tend to use handguns to end their lives. Hanging is the second method of choice, said Donna Holland Barnes.

After losing her son, Barnes co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for People of Color Against Suicide in 1998.

Barnes said Black families are more likely to rally to prevent drug abuse or homicide, leading to support and advocacy groups such as Mothers in Charge, the band of Philadelphia-area women who aid those who have lost children to homicide.

Suicide, on the other hand, is an area that still too few have dared to broach, Barnes said.

"People have to deal with blame, shame and guilt," Barnes said. "With homicide, you don't have to deal with those emotional complexities as much."

But with more studies documenting the high incidence of depression and other mental stresses on African Americans, it is more important than ever to think proactively about preventing suicide, she said.

Sean Joe at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work has been studying that issue as it relates to families of color. Working with the city Medical Examiner's Office and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a suicide prevention and bereavement pilot program may debut next year.

Evidence suggests it's needed.

Biannual behavioral surveys conducted among Philadelphia's public school students show children here report higher suicidal behavior than the national average, Joe said.

Black children comprise some two-thirds of the students in the Philadelphia school district.

"It raises the question to what extent are large numbers of African-American adolescents engaging in suicidal behavior," he said. "And the question is, do we want to know whether our adolescents are engaging in this level of behavior."

It's a question that should not be avoided, Barnes said.

"Ask the question," she said. "Ask them if they've considered suicide. We never want to ask that question. We're afraid we'll put the idea in their head.

"But if you think they might be thinking of that, surely they might be thinking of it."

The National Organization for People of Color Against Suicide can be reached at www.nopcas.com or call 800-SUICIDE for help.

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