A teenager died after jumping from a building in New York on Saturday, the New York Post reported. The incident happened on Saturday night when the 18-year-old who has not been identified, leaped to her death from a fifth-floor window of the six-story NYU art building. Notably, the building houses the art department's studios, classrooms, and offices.
Shortly after, police arrived at the scene and found the teenager unconscious and unresponsive with severe trauma to her body. She was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
As of now, it's not clear whether she was an NYU student.
Justina Sung, 30, who was in her nearby apartment at the time said that she heard ''a thump and girl scream.''
“My roommate asked someone and someone said [they] jumped off and landed in that triangle area,'' Ms Sung said, referring to a small, fenced-in green space outside of the building at the confluence of 9th and Stuyvesant Streets.
Meanwhile, police at the scene are investigating the blood-splattered area just outside of the fencing. Circumstances surrounding her death remain shrouded in mystery.
In an alarming trend, US suicide rates have ticked up almost every year. More than 50,000 Americans died by suicide in 2023, more than any year on record, as per NBC News. Mental health officials said it is the highest rate of suicide that the nation has ever seen, and attributed the role of post-pandemic effects as the reason.
"It's tragic, we started to see a big increase in suicide deaths during the opioid epidemic. That was worsened by Covid and unfortunately, those rates have continued to increase,'' Luke Engeriser, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Altapointe Health told NBC15 News.
Experts also cite increased depression and anxiety, substance use, economy, and job issues as other factors for the rise in such cases.
