Onlookers reportedly encouraged refugee boy’s suicide in German town
Onlookers reportedly encouraged a 17-year-old Somali asylum seeker who committed suicide to jump to his death from a fifth story apartment building in the eastern German town of Schmölln, according to the town’s mayor.
The mayor of the eastern German town of Schmölln said Saturday he was shocked after learning onlookers may have encouraged a refugee boy to commit suicide. The boy had recently left psychological treatment.
“We have received information that some onlookers who observed the incident for a while called out ‘Jump, already,'” Mayor Sven Schrade told local MDR news. “Nobody can defend such a thing.”
Authorities arrived at the scene on Friday after receiving a call from a facility for unaccompanied youth migrants to respond to a complaint of violence. When they arrived the boy was sitting on the ledge of a fifth story window.
