Yale University student Cameron Dabaghi, 21, jumped to his death on Tuesday from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building’s observation deck. The junior from Austin, Texas plunged from the landmark building at 6:15 p.m. on March 30 and crashed onto W. 34th St. as seen in a photo below.
The young man was majoring in East Asian studies and would have graduated in 2011, according to the student newspaper the Yale Daily News. His sister Andrene Dabaghi is also a student at Yale.
A statement by Yale College Dean Mary Miller said, “We are all deeply distressed by this news.”
It is still unclear how Dabaghi got past a 10-foot-high spiked fence ringing the observation deck as seen in the video below. Thirty-four people have jumped to their deaths from the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931.
A witness, Luis Mosquea, described the scene that began with a “sickening thud” in front of the Bank of America. He said, “It was like an explosion. One guy ran over and covered the shattered body with an umbrella. It was crazy.”
View more photos and video from the Empire State Building observation deck on the 86th floor below: