At around 4:00 PM on Wednesday, the young man—whose district of origin is still unknown—jumped from the 13th floor of the Makuza building. Reports say he entered the building and went to a restaurant on the 13th floor, where he sat alone.

Before anyone could attend to him, he jumped and fell to the ground in the City Walk courtyard, dying instantly.

The spokesperson of the Rwanda National Police in Kigali City, ACP Boniface Rutikanga, told us that an investigation is being conducted to determine the reason behind the suicide. His place of origin has not yet been identified.

He said:

“The information we have is that he went to a restaurant on the 13th floor, sat there alone, and then jumped. He landed in front of the building and died instantly. Emergency services arrived but found he had already passed away.”

When UKWELITIMES arrived at the scene, it found a large crowd gathered, along with security forces who had already arrived and promptly took the body away. Among the young man’s possessions were a phone and a piece of paper.

That paper was a letter he had written on May 20, in which he said he was tired of the life he was living. He apologized to those he had wronged, thanked those who had supported him, criticized his parents for neglecting him, and asked them to take care of his younger sibling.

One of the residents present at the scene said:

“We suddenly heard a loud sound, and when we looked, we saw that someone had fallen to the ground [...] He was wearing a shirt, shoes, and pants, and we could see he was a young man—but we didn’t know what could have driven him to take his own life.”

Another person added:

“Someone who had seen him pass by told me that they suddenly saw him rushing past, and then he jumped immediately.”

PHOTO by IGIHE