Jamaica woman plunges to death at Queens Center Mall: Police
By Jeremy Walsh
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| A security guard at Queens Center Mall adjusts crime scene tape blocking off one of the shopping center’s exits after authorities said a Jamaica woman jumped from a third−floor railing. Photo by Christina Santucci |
A Jamaica woman plummeted four stories to her death inside the Queens Center Mall last week in an apparent suicide, authorities said.
Around 2:20 p.m. on April 8, 56−year−old Mary Lovelace was at the mall with her two high school−aged children, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and police said. On the third floor of the mall at the atrium, an opening that looks down through the various floors to the subterranean food court level, she climbed up on the railing and jumped off, Brown said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Lovelace clipped a high school−aged boy during the plunge, Brown said. The teen, identified in news reports as Amityville, L.I., resident Derrick Munoz, 17, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and was expected to recover, the DA said. Wearing a bandage around his head, Munoz later told television reporters he had no memory of the impact and woke up in the hospital.
Lovelace died from head trauma, the city medical examiner’s office said. Her death was ruled a suicide.
Elmhurst twins Reza and Ibnu Darpir, 19, who were shopping at the mall, said they saw a thickly built woman fall past them without a sound and clip a young man who was lying in a massage chair.
“She was not wearing shoes,” Ibnu said.
The incident closed off roughly one−fourth of the mall for hours as police investigated the death.
“It was not a result of a safety issue. That’s all I can say at this time,” said Jeffrey Owen, the Queens Center senior property manager.
News of the apparent suicide rattled shoppers.
“I come here every week and nothing like this has ever happened,” said Jamaica resident Samantha Alegria, 19. “You go to the mall just to shop. You never think something like this could happen.”
Springfield Gardens resident All Willton, 38, said he thought the atrium was a dangerous feature.
“It’s too wide,” he said. “They ought to close it off.”
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
Around 2:20 p.m. on April 8, 56−year−old Mary Lovelace was at the mall with her two high school−aged children, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and police said. On the third floor of the mall at the atrium, an opening that looks down through the various floors to the subterranean food court level, she climbed up on the railing and jumped off, Brown said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Lovelace clipped a high school−aged boy during the plunge, Brown said. The teen, identified in news reports as Amityville, L.I., resident Derrick Munoz, 17, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and was expected to recover, the DA said. Wearing a bandage around his head, Munoz later told television reporters he had no memory of the impact and woke up in the hospital.
Lovelace died from head trauma, the city medical examiner’s office said. Her death was ruled a suicide.
Elmhurst twins Reza and Ibnu Darpir, 19, who were shopping at the mall, said they saw a thickly built woman fall past them without a sound and clip a young man who was lying in a massage chair.
“She was not wearing shoes,” Ibnu said.
The incident closed off roughly one−fourth of the mall for hours as police investigated the death.
“It was not a result of a safety issue. That’s all I can say at this time,” said Jeffrey Owen, the Queens Center senior property manager.
News of the apparent suicide rattled shoppers.
“I come here every week and nothing like this has ever happened,” said Jamaica resident Samantha Alegria, 19. “You go to the mall just to shop. You never think something like this could happen.”
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“It’s too wide,” he said. “They ought to close it off.”
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
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