US | Mychal Bell 'Jena 6' Teen in Hospital After Shooting Self Bell couldn't take media attention following new arrest: family By Nick McMaster Posted Dec 30, 2008 2:33 PM CST Copied Mychal Bell, one of the "Jena Six," listens to speakers after leaving the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena, La., Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Mychal Bell, one of the “Jena six” who were the focus of a racial controversy in 2006, survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest and is in a Louisiana hospital, the Monroe News Star reports. Bell shot himself after being arrested for shoplifting on Christmas Eve and said “that he shot himself because he was tired of all the media attention” after that arrest, police reports said. Bell was arrested less than one month after his release on charges stemming from the beating of a Jena High School classmate. His attempt to steal $370 worth of merchandise from a Dillard’s department store also landed him charges for battery and resisting arrest, police said. Read These Next 2 of Rob and Michele Reiner's kids speak out. Colleagues are heartbroken by murder of sports journalist. Nick Reiner spoke just three words in court. Jack Smith says there was powerful evidence in Trump criminal cases. Report an error