Crime & Safety

Police: Man Had 'Intent of Killing Himself' in 3-Story Fall at Mall of Ga.

The man, 43, fell from the Regal Cinemas balcony into the food-court area.

Gwinnett Police said Monday they believe the man who fell three stories inside the Mall of Georgia this weekend was attempting suicide.

The fall happened Sunday, Feb. 2, near the Regal Cinemas/food court area of the Buford mall. He fell from the third-floor balcony where the theater is located and landed in the food court below. Police were not sure at the time if it was an accident.

According to the incident report, provided by Gwinnett Police spokesman Cpl. Ed Ritter, police believe the 43-year-old man from Roswell “intentionally went over the railing and fell to the ground floor with the intent of killing himself.”

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The man was breathing and alert when taken by ambulance to the hospital. There is no update on his condition.

In the incident report, a Gwinnett officer who was working off-duty at the theater, wrote that he saw the man hit the ground-level floor with “significant force.” He found the man moaning on the floor and called for an ambulance.

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Witnesses and security cameras showed that at 12:45 p.m. the man went to purchase a ticket to a 1 p.m. show, but when asked which show, he replied, “It doesn’t matter.” The theater manager told police the man had done the same thing the previous day.

According to the report, the man sat in a chair next to the railing for the next 24 minutes, occasionally getting up to look over the rail. At 1:13 p.m., he stepped onto the chair and sat on the railing.

When the theater manager approached the man to tell him to get off the railing, the man “leans backwards and grabs the metal portion of the rail … swings his legs over the railing … falls backward over the railing to the floor below,” according to the incident report.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported two people had jumped to their deaths in the same spot.


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