Raniya Wright, the South Carolina fifth grader who died after a fight at her elementary school last month, died of natural causes, according to Colleton County coroner Richard Harvey and prosecutor Duffie Stone, who spoke at a news conference Friday.
Wright, a student at Forest Hills Elementary in Walterboro, died of a rupture in the brain related to an “arteriovenous malformation,” a birth defect which Stone said could have taken place at “just about any time.”
According to Stone, there will be no criminal charges filed.
According to Colleton County Sheriff R.A. Strickland, Wright was involved in a brief slap fight with another student before a teacher separated them. Wright had no signs of injuries and did not mention any, but mentioned a headache minutes later when she was in the principal’s office, according to CNN.
The other student, who has not been identified, was suspended from school indefinitely. Later, the Sheriff’s Office found Wright unconscious in the nurse’s office after a school employee called 911 to report a collapsed student. Wright died two days later.
It remains unclear what led to the brief fight between Wright and the other student. In an interview with Good Morning America earlier this month, Ashley Wright said that she had been “complaining about the person that she fought numerous times to them.”
According to Wright, her daughter had been having issues with another fifth-grade girl for more than a year.
“That’s what really breaks me down and makes me question to myself why nothing was never done up until now with this happening,” Wright told GMA “They failed me.”
Since February 2017, Wright visited a doctor six times due to complaints relating to headaches, with her most recent visit taking place nearly two weeks before the school fight.
“The headaches are a manifestation” of her condition, according to Stone. “It was a matter of time,” he added.