Facebook Employee Dead Of Apparent Suicide, Jumps Off Fourth Floor Of FB Headquarters

An adult male employee of Facebook Inc. jumped to his death from one of the building's at the company's sprawling campus at Menlo Park, California, Thursday.

The Menlo Park Police Department (MPPD) are treating this death as an apparent suicide. They said the preliminary investigation showed no signs of foul play.

They revealed the still unidentified employee jumped from the fourth floor of a Facebook building known as MPK 27 located at 162 Jefferson Drive.

MPPD said it responded to a 911 call at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Police officers found the person unresponsive when they arrived at the scene.

Firefighters and paramedics tried to revive the man, but to no avail. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office transported the man to the San Mateo County Hospital. The identity of the man has not yet been released.

"Firefighters and paramedics administered medical aid but were unable to revive the victim," said MPPD in a statement. "The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene."

A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed the victim was a Facebook employee.

"We were saddened to learn that one of our employees passed away at our Menlo Park headquarters earlier today," she wrote in an email. "We're cooperating with police in their investigation and providing support to employees. While the family is being notified, we have no information to share."

In November 2017, Facebook rolled-out a suicide-prevention app on its platform. This “proactive detection” artificial intelligence technology scans all FB posts for patterns of suicidal thoughts. When necessary, the app will send mental health resources to the user at risk or their friends, or contact local first-responders.

Facebook said that by using AI to flag worrisome posts and to warn people instead of waiting for user reports, it can help decrease how long it takes to send help to the potential suicide.

“This is about shaving off minutes at every single step of the process, especially in Facebook Live,” said Guy Rosen, VP of product management, at the time.