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Variety in the Heartland |
Man Jumps To His Death
01/22/10 MRC/CJ
A 39-year-old man died Thursday morning after jumping from the 17th floor of the Heyburn Building.
Tonika “Tony” Ellis, of the 4200 block of South Second Street, died at the scene about 10:20 a.m., according to Jack Arnold, a deputy Jefferson County coroner. His death has been ruled a suicide.
Arnold said Ellis did not work in the building and appears to have chosen that floor randomly.
Nathaniel Carter, a custodian for the Louisville Free Public Library, was outside cleaning Thursday morning when he saw a “white flash” falling from several stories up on the back side of the Heyburn Building, which was in front of him.
Carter quickly realized it was a man jumping.
Alicia Smiley, a Louisville Metro police spokeswoman, said the victim went to the 17th floor of the Heyburn Building, located on Broadway between Third and Fourth streets, about 10 a.m., opened a window in a hallway alcove and jumped.
The man apparently struck a second-floor overhang before hitting the ground, Smiley said.
The 17 story, 249-foot-tall Heyburn building houses more than a dozen businesses, including Internet companies and medical offices.
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