A Silverdale 9-year-old who accidentally hanged himself with a scarf from a tree in South Kitsap died three days after the Oct. 16 incident.

Tyler James Wade was pronounced dead at Tacoma General Hospital on Oct. 19. The Kitsap County Coroner’s Office has not officially determined the cause of death.

Wade began elementary school at Sidney Glen in South Kitsap, but transferred to Silverdale Elementary.

“This young boy was known as a jokester,” said Deputy Scott Wilson, public information officer for the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. “He tried to stage a joke to scare others in the family, where his body was hanging from a tree, and it didn’t go right,” according to initial reports from deputies, Wilson said.

He could apparently touch the ground, but the rope apparently was too tight for the boy to get sufficient air to remain conscious. He passed out and the scarf got tighter.

Prior to the incident, the boy had been playing with his 11-year-old brother and 7-year-old stepbrother in the yard outside a house in the 7200 block of East Patricia Street in the Manchester area.

His brothers found him hanging from the tree and told their father that he had hung himself. His father saw the boy hanging from the tree branch, got him off and did CPR, while another family member called 9-1-1.

Wade was initially taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma but later was transported to Tacoma General Hospital. He had been on life support prior to his death.