Editor’s note: This story contains mention of suicide that may be distressing to some readers. If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. See the bottom of the story for additional resources.
An unidentified man who spent 62 hours atop the broadcast tower behind Centennial Hall on American University’s main campus died Friday morning, the University and Metropolitan Police Department said in separate statements.
At approximately 5:45 a.m. Friday, the man died in what police described as an apparent suicide. “The matter is now a death investigation,” an MPD spokesperson told The Eagle.
Access to a portion of Lydecker Way around Anderson and Centennial Halls to the Hall of Science will remain closed as MPD conducts its investigation.
In an email statement sent to the AU community Friday morning, Bronté Burleigh-Jones, AU’s chief financial officer, vice president and treasurer, thanked emergency services for working “tirelessly over the past three days to safely conclude the situation, but unfortunately the outcome was tragic.”
The MPD spokesperson said officers first responded to reports of a person on the tower at 3:17 p.m. Tuesday. The man called 911 around that time, NBC4 first reported and The Eagle independently confirmed.
Officials on scene told Washingtonian magazine that they got a cell phone to the man and had been communicating with him.
MPD on Tuesday described the incident as a “barricade situation.” He was on a platform about halfway up the 419-foot radio tower, which serves AU-owned NPR station WAMU and sits adjacent to the Media Production Center.
Buildings on the south side of campus were evacuated or placed under a shelter-in-place order for two hours Tuesday night “out of an abundance of caution,” Burleigh-Jones said in an email to the community Tuesday.
WAMU, D.C.’s primary NPR member station, is licensed to AU and operates as a department of the University. The station “powered down the tower to support the emergency response,” its Chief Advancement Officer Leslie VanSant said in a statement to a WAMU reporter. WAMU said it was “experiencing technical difficulties” in an earlier email to listeners.
“The station has been in full operation since Tuesday — our signal was briefly interrupted and we switched to another radio tower in Virginia,” Chris Remington, a WAMU producer and editor, said in an email to The Eagle.
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available:
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to speak with trained counselors 24/7.
The Veterans Crisis Line
Call 988 and Press 1 or visit veterancrisisline.net for crisis chat services and more information.
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741 for free, 24/7, confidential crisis support.
American University students can contact the Center for Well-Being Programs and Psychological Services at 202-885-3500 during business hours to speak with a counselor or schedule an appointment. Students can also call AU ProtoCall at 202-885-7979 to speak with an on-call crisis clinician at any time.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the WAMU radio tower is 421 feet tall. It has been updated to accurately reflect that the tower is 419 feet tall.
This article was edited by Gabrielle McNamee, Neil Lazurus, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting.
