Public Suicide at Carousel Center

Syracuse Police say a 21 year old man from Liverpool jumped from the 6th floor of the atrium at the mall just after 6pm on Monday.

[Helpless]

I would just like to say a few brief things on the inncident. I dont understand how the mall security would let this happen and if the man was up on the 6th floor for about 15 minutes saying he was gonna jump then y wouldnt they have back up ready down stairs instead of having an ambulence come about 15 minutes later.

Also i understand the fact that people did try to help but seriously what can u do in a situation like this. You cannot blame the police for keeping people away b.c by having a random person try to help him could have made the problem worste and he had internal problems and external problems caused by the fall.

God bless the family and friends.

[Evil TS Angel]

mall security can't be everywhere there at once. If their out patroling the entrances and parking garages it would leave ample time for someone to be up there alone. I have gone up to the 6th floor and was there for about 20 minutes before security came around and asked us to leave that area. It's not just security but the mall it's self should do something about atrium area to ensure it's alot harder for people to do this from any level of the mall. Maybe a net at the bottom level? or a plexiglass flooring on each level at the atrium (could even double as a place to put up adverstisements for the mall and companies). It's not just people that are coming down the atrium free falling. I believe I heard about a santa clause a couple years back getting hit in the head with a soda bottle that someone threw over the railings (which are only about mid-stomach high.)

[Nic]

I was a manager at a store in the mail for a few years and can tell you that, in general, Carousel Mall security are extremely unprofessional and not at all helpful. I had an instance where a customer came into the store and began verbally harassing me and refused to leave - it took 40 minutes for mall security to arrive, and they sent one person who looked to be about 18 years old and seemed confused about what to do to diffuse the situation. They'll never put nets or plexiglass up in the mall. I wonder if mall security are required to undergo any sort of crisis training - I would assume not. It's a joke. I remember calling for a security escort to walk me to my car late at night - no one showed up. My heart goes out to this young man's family - but I also feel for the mall patrons who had to witness his selfish display.

[Syracuse Social Worker]

Selfish display? Are you for real. I knew this young man and he was suffering from depression and other mental difficulties. I don't know what he was thinking but someone who wants to end their life is suffering the worst kind of pain you can imagine. SO he was selfish because he disturbed some rich person's shopping spree. Get real!
I feel that he may have put some people in danger by falling on them- but selfish display! I hope the person who said that never has to be depressed to the point where dying seems easier than living.
This was a disturbed young man who had recieved mental health treatment in the past.
Lets talk about how to increase access to the needed mental health services, not how shoddy security in the mall is. That's not the issue people. The issue is that so many people want to kill themselves and the mall is the best place to do it in this city.

[Nic]

I was simply pointing out that as a result of his actions, children and adults may suffer trauma. Watching someone kill themselves is clearly a traumatizing situation. I am not claiming that he is selfish because he "disturbed some rich person's shopping spree." And I would never go as far to suggest that the mall is "the best place" to kill yourself in our city. What kind of statement is that? FYI, I've suffered from depression, too, so although you may claim to be an expert, I understand just as much as you do. Suicide is a terrible tragedy that affects the person's family and friends, but in this instance, it has affected all of the mall patrons who witnessed it as well. Bottom line.

[Very Disturbed]

Why would the councelors at Common Wealth Place owned and operated Crouse Hopspital punish this man by displining him for finding cigarettes in his room within the rehab after significantly (mike- the victim and patient) telling other patients and professional employees at the rehab a few in particular Jorge D and Richard Mason that he was going to kill himself if they were to discharge him!!! Do these professional councelors have any heart at all? They should have admitted this man at the hospital for psychological test to be done.
Something has to be done and right! This is unjust! These patients are going through enough at this rehab, me being a former patient, i have first hand experience. Its hard going through the withdrawles and at the rehab they just want to take everything away. You cant just take everything all away at once. Come on, lets think about this this man died and killed himself over cigarettes. I believe the State of New York shoul get involved in this matter as soon as possible, i was a patient there while mike was there. He was such a great guy getting his life back together and Common Wealth Place just demolished him and took his life! someone do something!

[Connor]

Actually, it was selfish, among other words, for him to commit suicide in this fashion. While I absolutely don't condone suicide, if you're going to do it, you take pills and go to sleep in your room or something, you don't need to warrant this attention by jumping 6 stories to your death in the biggest attraction in Syracuse. I hear the girl who worked at Auntie Anne's, 2 feet away from the spot where he landed, went hysterical after witnessing this. Also, I hear he almost hit a stroller. You don't call that selfish?!!? What if he would have hit someone on his fall and taken another innocent life?! That's idiodic and I don't feel bad because of the way he did it.

[will]

he deserved everythig i knew him... he was a killing machiene, he hated everything in life

[kim]

wow obviously will you didnt know him. I went to school with Mike and was friends with him throughout college> Mike was a warm soul who always made me laugh. I dont know what had happend in the past year to make him hit rock bottom like this, but the way I knew him he never would mean to hurt anyone. He wasent thinking clearly and not only from a friends point of view but I am a nurse now. When people make up their mind they dont think of how it will affect anyone. They are reaching out for help and they see no one there. I dont know what was going through his head but it wasent worth his life and possibly others.

[Tim]

Everyone has their own views on what suicide is. Kim being a nurse you understand what the definition of suicide is; a permanent situation, to a temporally problem. I don’t understand why people kill themselves, no one ever will. I have read some of these posts and you feel sorry for him. I on the other hand do not. Seriously, how could you? There is someone I feel sorry for, that’s his friends, family, loved ones; the people that will never see him again for his completely rational action. The pain he will put those people in is far more then the pain he was going threw. Some of you said he had issues and a lot of problems. That’s what your loved ones are for, people need to let go and talk to someone. Not jump off the 6th floor in a shopping mall for everyone to see (that is selfish for the person that said it). I’m done ranting; my sympathies go out to his friends and family

[Mech]

Look, anybody who commits public suicide is a coward. It's not that hard to do so quietly, where nobody else will have to be traumatized by your demise. I had a friend who was there when it happened. He took a picture with his phone, and by monday, that picture was on every phone in the shop. His life was reduced to being our temporary amusement as immortalized in a cellphone picture. But at least we got a laugh. Lesson? Don't kill yourself publicly. Others will only think that you're a tool.

[Nnn]

Personally, I find it deplorable to think that someone took a picture and further exploited the situation by circulating the picture. One of my co-workers received that picture via text and it made me sick. The public display was selfish and cowardly, but anyone who is amused by that picture is a sick, twisted individual. Hopefully parents, teachers, the community, etc. use this as a teaching opportunity and public displays like this can be prevented in the future.

[hope]

I know that everyone has a right to there opinion that is what this page is for. I don't however think that calling him cowered or selfish is right. no one now's how he felt or what thoughts were racing threw his head. maybe he thought he was doing everyone a favor by getting out of the way and stopping everyone from worrying about him. sometimes the mind can kill u way before the body is gone.

[malljumper]

[IMG]http://i36.tinypic.com/bd p0lx.jpg[/IMG]

[malljumper]

i got pics

[jayyyyy]

Honestly, I feel sick to my stomach when I think about what this kid did. not about pictures. who really cares about pictures..there are more appropriate ways to commit suicide rather than in a mall containing thousands of people. I go to that mall all the time, and I'm not rich. Normal everyday people go there everyday. Obviously this kid's an attention seeker because there is no other explanation as to why it had to be in a public place. I am absolutely disgusted when I think about this and everyone is making excuses for him b/c he is no longer here. Nothing justifies what he did to those other people. I bet a lot of you would be changing your tunes had you been there to see it, or had your children been there watching. And maybe there needs to be a deeper look inside the facility he was at, why they turned him away, but it still doesn't make up for what the family/friends/and those who seen it have to go thru . Nothing ever will. It was cowardly bottom line, there is nothing worse in this world than someone who does exactly what he did. It should have been done in private, not for others to see and suffer because he was.

[cny cutie]

This is just so disgusting to read that people stood there and did nothing to help him after he fell, that people actually took pictures as he lay there dying. Get real people. I'm a nurse, and I can't believe that people would just stand by as another human being laid there suffereing.

You should all be ashamed of yourself. I hope that if any of you should ever need the assistance of another person that they just don't stand by you and do nothing! We were put on this earth to help each other. Have we forgotten that?

I'm just disgusted and ashamed of my fellow central new yorkers.

[MECH]

I'm just disgusted and ashamed of my fellow central new yorkers

Really? I bet that any situation that I'll need assistance with won't be a result of me immolating myself to horrify a world that I'll never have to answer to. He's still a tool.

[OnWithIt]

cny cutie wrote:

This is just so disgusting to read that people stood there and did nothing to help him after he fell, that people actually took pictures as he lay there dying. Get real people. I'm a nurse, and I can't believe that people would just stand by as another human being laid there suffereing.
You should all be ashamed of yourself. I hope that if any of you should ever need the assistance of another person that they just don't stand by you and do nothing! We were put on this earth to help each other. Have we forgotten that?
I'm just disgusted and ashamed of my fellow central new yorkers.

Don't judge others when you weren't even there! Did you read the accounts from people who were? One woman tried to approach him immediately and tried to take his pulse (this was verified) and was immediately shooed away by security. They wouldn't let anyone near him and it took paramedics as much as 20 minutes to arrive. By then, he was dead or about to die. Want to blame someone? Blame security. He fell SIX stories. The guy didn't have a shot at surviving and he made sure of that.

[cny cutie]

Well, if I had been there trust me, I would have hepled him, and those security officers wouldn't have shooed me away. They could have arrested me for all I care. I would never let anyone helpless die in front of me. If I can help someone whether it be a human being or an animal I would do so.

I think that the people taking pictures are more pathetic than anyone. How aweful and cruel.