70yo jumps from building to die only to fall on a woman in ‘extremely violent’ way

Warning: this article discusses suicide and self-harm.

A tragic suicide attempt somehow turned to manslaughter in Italy this past weekend, and the story has now grown to capture the world’s attention.

We live in a world where we’ve seen AI chatbots convince children that they should consider suicide. Even beyond social-media-fueled political squabbles, one of the things the current culture has to seriously contend with is mental health problems. Life can be difficult and overwhelming, and unfortunately that can push some people toward attempting suicide.

That was the case in Milan, and the story is slowly growing into one of the most widely told Italian stories of 2025 since the infamous star-studded Jeff Bezos wedding in Venice. People reports that a 70-year-old man stood on his balcony and jumped, expecting death — but instead he landed on 83-year-old Francesco Manno on Sept. 14.

Milanese emergency services responded as quickly as possible, but according to People it didn’t take long before they pronounced Manno dead. Initially, authorities believed it might have been a double suicide by a couple — but as more information trickled out, it was revealed the two were not connected.

The jumper’s name is currently being withheld by Italian authorities, but they have confirmed they will charge him with manslaughter. The man leaped from the fourth floor; after Manno broke his fall, the jumper survived and is now hospitalized to recover from multiple foot fractures.

Manno was reportedly struck violently by the fall and died almost instantly. The 83-year-old woman lived in the same building as the man who attempted to end his life and, according to people familiar with the situation, rarely left her home. On one of those rare occasions, she was struck by an entire human body. She is believed to be survived by her widower, to whom she had been married for the past five decades.

Someone trying to take their own life is always a tragic situation — and as we see here, it can inflict devastating harm on people who aren’t even involved in the attempt. This is an extreme example, but friends and family of both the person who made the attempt and the person who was killed might never fully recover.

While there was a recent example in which Paula Deen gave a masterclass in how not to respond to people who have tried to take their own life, there’s no clear-cut way to handle such a complex situation. Life is hard, and empathy is usually the best approach for people struggling with suicidal thoughts. But in a case like this, someone else ended up losing their life because of the attempt — these situations are not one-size-fits-all.

All that remains a fact is that the best way to deal with these thoughts is to seek help as soon as possible. Cases such as this are also helped when governments and the general culture ensure that people who feel this way don’t feel like they are burdening anyone with their problems. That is why hotlines and an empathetic culture are encouraged.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. A list of international crisis resources can be found here.