School helps students cope with death of classmate killed by train

Updated: Mon 12:49 PM, Oct 29, 2012

RICHMOND, Ky. (WKYT) - Grief counselors were at a central Kentucky middle school on Monday morning to help students struggling with the death of a classmate.

Andy Byrd, 14, died over the weekend. Officials say he was walking on train tracks near Highway 388 in Madison County when a train hit him.

Students at B. Michael Caudill middle school learned the news during an assembly on Monday morning.

Students wore red and blue in memory of Byrd.

Staff members have setup a "Thoughts of Andy" box where students can leave their memories of him. It will eventually be given to his family.

"Anytime you have to talk about the loss of someone and then when it's a peer or young child, it's especially difficult There is no easy way to do it, but I don't know if there's a way that you do it every time, but it certainly wasn't easy for anyone to do that today," said Principal Ken Bicknell

Grief counselors will be available to the students all day and for the rest of the week.

Byrd was originally from Wolfe County and had only been in the Richmond area for about a year.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Porter & Son Funeral Home in Campton.

'The Sopranos' mobster James Gandolfini has died