The 14th floor

At 1:00 p.m. on April 19, I witnessed an elderly woman with short dark hair sitting on an overturned shopping cart in the Clairemont Village parking lot. She was crying and distraught and being comforted by two nearby residents and talked to by three police officers. One of them was a young brunette female officer who was crouched down asking her questions.

What she had witnessed shortly before 1:00 p.m. was a man jumping to his death from her residence at the Sorrento Towers at 2875 Cowley Way in Bay Park.

Across the street, the wide stairway going to Sorrento Towers was taped off with yellow police tape as at least ten police officers were interviewing people on the scene. On the stairs was a cream jacket and lots of blood. Many residents were milling about.

Allegedly the jumper's car

Another resident, Mac, told me that the man who had died had been seen parking his compact white Chrysler LHS in the Clairemont Village parking lot halfway in the crosswalk before heading across the street to Sorrento Towers. (On the back of his car is a "Swika" sticker; according to Urban Dictionary, it's slang for masturbation.)

Mac said that the man was seen playing air guitar as he headed into the usually secure building.

"As luck would have it, the door was broken today," said Mac. "The man took the elevator to the 14th floor. He was seen pulling out a bench on the balcony and climbing up on it and immediately jumping to his death on the stairs below."

Another resident confirmed that the man didn't live in the towers and they didn't believe he knew anyone in the towers. They weren't sure of his age, but was considered "not that old" by residents.

The last police car pulled away at about 1:40 p.m., after a tow truck showed up seemingly to haul away the dead person’s automobile. Police were heard several times commenting on people looking inside the victim's car and wanting to keep people away.

Later in the day (at about 3:30 p.m.), Mac said he talked to a friend of the man who committed suicide. He told Mac he used to party with the victim all the time. The victim's car had not been towed away. Someone was guarding the entrance to the towers. Mac said he was told by Sorrento Towers management that the yellow caution tape will be up until tomorrow. The victim's jacket was still on the stairs at 3:45 p.m.

Mac said about the incident, "At least whatever problems he had are now over.”