A TRAGIC LOSS

Illinois Rep. Says 17-Year-Old Daughter Went to Bed and ‘Didn’t Wake Up’

“The only thing we know about her death is that it was peaceful,” he wrote.

Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) provided more details Wednesday on his 17-year-old daughter Gwen’s shock death, saying she died “peacefully” in her sleep on Sunday night. In a longer statement posted to his Twitter, Sean said Gwen went out with some friends for a few hours on Sunday night, told her parents good night when she returned home, went to bed and “didn’t wake up on Monday morning.” “The only thing we know about her death is that it was peaceful. And the only lesson we can take from that is to savor the moments that you have with your loved ones,” Casten wrote. Gwen attended Downers Grove North High School in Illinois, where her passions included playing the trumpet and social justice activism, he said. She started the Empowerment Club at the school, which focused on issues like LGBTQ allyship and environmental protection advocacy, Casten said. “To all asking what they can do, we ask only that you live your lives as Gwen lived hers,” he wrote.