A Los Angeles high school student leaped to his death from a four-story campus building moments after a classmate punched him in the face and chased him, newly surfaced video shows.
The fatal confrontation unfolded around 1 p.m. Wednesday at Benjamin Franklin High School in the Highland Park neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The deceased student, whose name and age authorities have not released, was first verbally and physically assaulted by a fellow student while an elderly teacher attempted to intervene, the footage reveals.
The attacker landed a punch that knocked the other student to the ground. As the victim rose, the aggressor shouted, “Run n—a — run.” The punched student then sprinted through an outdoor hallway several stories up, with his attacker pursuing closely behind. He climbed over a railing and fell to the ground below.
Student witnesses captured the aftermath on video, their voices audible in stunned repetition. “Oh my God!” they exclaimed as events unfolded. The camera briefly showed the student motionless on the ground.
A witness described the scene to FOX 11. “I hear stuff rumbling, falling, and I look up and I see kids fighting. I see a kid getting hurt pretty bad… [he] throws himself over the fourth floor.”
Principal Marine Davtyan addressed parents in an email sent Wednesday. “The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff continues to be our top priority. A medical emergency has required our school to go into a ‘lockdown.'”
All campus gates remained closed following the incident, with reopening contingent on law enforcement authorization. The LAPD has not announced any formal charges against the student who delivered the punch.
The video footage, which circulated following the incident, depicts the rapid escalation from a physical altercation to a fatal fall. The elderly teacher’s attempt to separate the students proved unsuccessful as the confrontation moved through the outdoor hallway.
The school community was left processing the violent events that transpired in the middle of a school day. Witnesses on the scene expressed shock at the speed with which the situation deteriorated.
The LAPD investigation remains ongoing. No additional details about potential disciplinary or legal consequences for the student aggressor have been disclosed. The circumstances surrounding what prompted the initial confrontation have not been made public.
The incident adds to growing concerns about student safety and violence in school environments, with the footage providing a disturbing documentation of the events leading to the teenager’s death.