RELATIONSHIP trauma or paranoia?
That’s what police are trying to determine in the case of a young man who tried to jump off the second floor of a mall in Mandaue City last Monday afternoon.
Two photos of the incident were posted by Richard Merck Gonzales on his Facebook account at 4:10 p.m. last February 23. It drew 242 likes and 319 shares as of 1:58 p.m. yesterday.
Cebu Flash Report’s Facebook page also posted two photos on the same incident at past noon yesterday.
More than an hour later, the photos drew more than 1,700 likes and 1,114 shares.
The Cebu Flash Report’s page claimed that the young man’s breakup with his girlfriend drove him to commit suicide. His identity is withheld to protect his privacy.
Gonzales recalled that he was at the mall to pay his cell phone bill when the incident happened.
“People started to converged and he started getting off his pair of shoes,” he told Cebu Daily News via Facebook message.
Gonzales said the mall’s security guards pulled out a mechanical ladder and other equipment as they tried to convince him not to jump. He said a woman tried to negotiate with the young man and offered him money but he refused.
The young man eventually relented and the mall management offered him food which he ate, SPO2 Antolin Montecalbo of the Subangdaku police said.
“He had a nervous breakdown. He claimed that someone was trying to kill him. When he reached the station, he was released,” SPO1 Michael Limalima said.
He said they cannot determine if he was suffering from a mental illness.