Police say a man has been arrested in connection to the death of an 11-year-old boy during a sleepover where he reportedly participated in a dangerous TikTok challenge, according to his family.
Tommy-lee Gracie Billington lost consciousness after inhaling toxic substances and was transported to a hospital, where he later died in March.
‘It is beyond me why anyone would even try this. It’s so dangerous.’
Three months later, Lancashire Police announced that they had arrested a 25-year-old man on from Lancaster suspicion of a slew of charges.
Billington was believed to have died as a result of participating in a TikTok challenge known as “chroming” during which children are encouraged to inhale toxic chemicals in order to create a high comparable to drunkenness. The chemicals used include solvents, aerosols, paint, or cleaning products.
The boy died officially from cardiac arrest.
The boy’s grandmother Tina Burns had released information about his death to the media.
“He had a heart of gold just like his dad. Our family is utterly devastated,” said Burns. “He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend’s house.”
She said the hospital staff did everything they could to revive him but were unsuccessful.
“Both our families are utterly devastated but we all want the same thing,” Burns added. “We don’t want any other children to follow TikTok or be on social media.”
Burns also said that she had gotten messages from other parents who said they were grateful to learn about the dangerous social media challenges.
‘Please talk to your children about the consequences of this.’
The boy’s mother, Sherri, also tried to raise awareness about the dangers of TikTok challenges in a heartfelt message on Facebook.
“As much as I hate talking about it, I need to raise awareness of what kids are trying nowadays,” she wrote. “It is beyond me why anyone would even try this. It’s so dangerous.”
TikTok has said that it has removed posts from the platform that encourage chroming and other challenges.
“Tommie had stayed over at a friends and was inhaling this with his friend which cost him his poor, young life,” she continued. “Please talk to your children about the consequences of this, I have no idea how this even came about for children to try.”
In addition to the man arrested, a 35-year-old woman was voluntarily questioned over allegations related to possession with intent to supply.
The man was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty, neglect, possession with intent to supply a drug, and money laundering. He was released on bail while the investigation continued.
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