A 17-year-old boy was punched inside his high school classroom, ran into the hallway and moments later went over a FOURTH-FLOOR railing to his death. Now his family says what happened before that horrifying video began is just as important. They say Xavier had been bullied for YEARS. Xavier Nungaray was a senior at Benjamin Franklin High School in Los Angeles when a confrontation broke out Wednesday. Video circulating from inside the school shows a teacher trying to intervene before another student strikes Xavier. The Los Angeles Times reports another video shows the attacker shouting racial slurs. A student who witnessed the confrontation told ABC7 the other boy kept throwing punches while Xavier wasn't fighting back. Xavier got up, ran from the classroom and, moments later, went over a fourth-floor railing. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died. Police are still investigating exactly what happened and say they have found no evidence of foul play in his death. But Xavier's family says this wasn't the first time he had been bullied. His stepmother says he had endured bullying throughout high school but was afraid to report it because he feared HE would be the one who got punished. His aunt says it became so bad that Xavier wanted to change schools. And this is where I don't want the horrifying final moments of his life to erase the 17 years that came before them. A classmate who had known Xavier since SECOND GRADE remembers a funny kid who loved laughing at everyone else's jokes. She says he was the kind of friend who would be there when you needed him and seemed to always have a smile. Hundreds of people have now gathered outside his school, surrounding his pictures with flowers and candles. His family is preparing to bury him. And parents who send their own children through school doors every morning believing they'll be safe are left with some incredibly difficult questions about what happened here. Xavier's family believes the bullying he endured matters, while investigators are still working to determine the circumstances surrounding his death. So rather than pretending we already know every answer, maybe we should ask a question that could matter for the NEXT child: If a kid is being bullied but is too afraid to tell an adult because he thinks HE might get in trouble, how are parents and teachers supposed to recognize it before something terrible happens? Please share condolences and prayers for Xavier's family here. His life mattered. RIP.