TATE PLUNGE
Tate Modern – Teen, 17, arrested for attempted MURDER of boy, 6, thrown from 10th floor as mum screamed ‘he’s my son!’
A TEENAGE boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a six-year-old was thrown from a viewing platform at the Tate Modern.
The boy's mum screamed "he's my son!" after he plunged from the 10th floor at the central London art gallery yesterday.
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Police today said the boy remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.
The suspect - who is not known to the victim - remained with by-standers at the scene and was then arrested. He remains in custody this morning.
Cops said they were called at 2.40pm on Sunday and found the victim on a fifth floor roof, where he was treated before being rushed to hospital by air ambulance.
The museum was evacuated and remained closed for the rest of the day after the shocking incident, which happened in the Blavatnik Building of the Tate Modern.
SCREAMS OF ANGUISH
"I heard the impact and then screaming from above as a woman screamed “he’s my son! he’s my son!,” one witness .
"I went inside because the screaming was horrific, the boy didn’t make any noise but the people from the viewing platform were screaming.”
Admin worker Nancy Barnfield, 47, of Rochdale, was at the 10th floor viewing gallery with a friend and their children when her friend heard a "loud bang".
She said: “Every time I tried to move around with my children (the man) was there. He was watching people. It was scary. He had his hands behind his back all the time.
"Suddenly a woman started to shout, ‘Where’s my son? Where’s my son?’ She was in hysterics. She was about 35 and sounded Italian.
"My friend said just before this she heard a loud bang, a real thud."
Members of the public quickly gathered around a man who was nearby, she added.
Ms Barnfield said a person, who was restrained by members of the public before the police arrived, "just stood there and was quite calm".
She said: “The man who had been acting suspiciously was then grabbed by members of the public. Around ten men held him down.
"He was white and unshaven and had a blue T-shirt with a top wrapped around his waist. He was unresponsive. Even with everything happening he was chillingly calm.”
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Another bystander, Reetta Sahlman, 34, who arrived two minutes before the commotion broke out, said: "People were waiting outside, they said they'd heard someone screaming. They said he didn't fall all the way down onto the grass.
"Someone said they heard yelling and then the helicopter landed.
"I was there when someone was carrying out the stretcher with a body. We didn't know what condition he was in.
"They weren't running, it took them a good ten minutes to bring him across the cordon.
"I'm grateful I didn't see what was going on, I can't imagine what their family is going through."
Helen Jones, 46, of Manchester, said: “It was horrific. I thought there had been a terrorist attack.”
Lucy Evans, 29 and Tom Reid, 26, from South London, who were both at the Tate Modern, told The Sun Online: "We were inside on the 3rd floor when it happened.
"We saw they were stopping people from going in. We heard someone fell from the balcony.
"There was quite a bit of confusion, no one was telling us what was going on.
"We went to the cafe to get some food when we saw from the look on people's faces that something was going on.
"What happened is shocking no matter where it took place. You wouldn't expect this in a museum."
'QUITE TERRIFYING'
Alex Orton wrote on Twitter: "Trapped inside Tate Modern. Police and air ambulance here.
"Story from a witness is that a child has fallen (been pushed) from a balcony. Quite terrifying."
A London Ambulance service spokesman said that after they were called at 2:40pm two ambulance crews were sent to the scene as well as the air ambulance.
"We treated a person at the scene and took them to hospital as a priority," the spokesman added.
The Tate Modern was the UK's most popular tourist attraction in 2018 after being visited 5.9 million times, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.
With the schools having broken up and holiday season begun, there are likely to have been thousands of visitors to the gallery on Sunday.
Last night the Met Police said: “A 17-year-old male remained with members of the public on the viewing platform. There is nothing to suggest he is known to the victim. He was arrested and is in custody.”
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