NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The office of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said Sunday that her only child has died of an apparent drug overdose.
The office released a statement from Barry and her husband, Bruce, saying 22-year-old Max Barry died Saturday night in Denver.
“Early this morning, we received news that no parents should ever have to hear,” the couple said. “Our son Max suffered from an overdose and passed away. We cannot begin to describe the pain and heartbreak that comes with losing our only child. Our son was a kind soul full of life and love for his family and friends.”
Max Barry graduated in June from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
“Our family would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and would respectfully ask for privacy as we mourn the loss of our child and begin to understand a world without his laughter and love in our lives,” the statement said.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Megan Barry was sworn in as Nashville’s first female mayor in September 2015 with her husband and son by her side.
Denver police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez declined to search the department’s records and logs for the police report of Barry’s death, saying that would violate the department’s policy of not identifying victims.
Investigator Melinda Rose of the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office in Denver told The Tennessean that an official cause or manner of death would not be declared until after the results of an autopsy, which was planned for Sunday.
The newspaper reported Max Barry had recently moved to Denver.
Condolences for the Barry family poured in on social media.
“No parent should ever live to see the passing of a child,” Nashville Sheriff Daron Hall said on Twitter.
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