A 35-year-old man and a 4-year-old toddler died after plummeting from a high-rise apartment building in Manhattan Sunday.
The two landed on a nearby building, with the man pronounced dead at the scene and the four-year-old boy later declared dead at a nearby hospital after efforts to resuscitate him failed. (Via NY1)
Police haven't made any definitive statements about the identity of the deceased or a possible cause of the fall, but several media outlets report the man was the boy's father, and was in the middle of a heated custody battle.
"Sources tell us he is from Brooklyn ... that he was supposed to hand over that four-year-old little boy to his wife at a police precinct, but that he did not show up." (Via WABC)
The New York Post is reporting the man's name, though it hasn't been confirmed by police, and says because of the placement of the bodies, authorities think the man shoved or threw his son from the roof before jumping himself.
Nearby residents were horrified by the apparent murder-suicide, one telling WNBC: "How heartbreaking, how sad it is that there was no one there to stop them, to say, 'Wait, tomorrow is another day.'"
It's still not clear what happened in the moments before the fall, or how the man gained access to the apartment building. Witnesses say the boy was wearing Christmas pajamas.
