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China Daily via Reuters
Rescuers and relatives stop a woman from committing suicide by jumping off a building in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province August 14, 2012.
A Chinese woman tried to commit suicide over a tragic family dispute.
According to a local source who did not wish to be identified, the woman whose last name is Luo attempted to jump off a building around 7 a.m. on Aug. 14. The source, who works with the woman's brother, told NBC News that Luo, about 50 years old, had a tense relationship with her sister-in-law.
According to local media reports, the woman had once felt sick after being served soup by her sister-in-law. As a result, Luo believed she was being poisoned, and decided to take her revenge on her 4-year-old nephew.
Early one morning, while the other family members were out buying groceries, Luo killed the boy in the bathroom and later disposed of the body. The source said the woman had a history of mental disorder.
Luo tried to jump off a building belonging to an agricultural company in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province. Family members, friends and a police officer named Zhao An tried to talk her out of it.
China Daily via Reuters
Around noon, Luo’s daughter tried to persuade her not to jump by threatening her mother that she'd join her and jump off, too.
While Luo appeared to reconsider her decision, the policeman quickly grabbed her, and in the struggle he was almost thrown off the rooftop. Luo is now under police custody.
China Daily via Reuters
Photos of the incident went viral, eliciting varied responses.
"The intensification of family conflict could lead to tragedies. As the saying goes, even an upright official will find it hard to settle domestic disputes. The management of family disputes should become an important topic in society," commented one blogger.
China Daily via Reuters
"The kid was innocent!" commented another.
"Nowadays, news is more dramatic than TV dramas," said another.
Editor's note: The photos were taken Aug. 14, and we received them on Monday, Aug. 20, but held off publishing for more information surrounding the circumstances.
NBC's Lorraine Liu contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
msn/nbc.We don't need this story.This is the west and there are 1billion chinese
wrong 1 billion three hundred million Chinese and more coming daily
It's a story about family and unconditional love and mental illness. It's not about The Chinese.
She killed her nephew because she thought his mother was poisoning her ? they should have let her jump. Looks like she is dying for attention. Hope she spends the rest of her life in jail. Deranged, evidently and mean as well.
They evidently all live together....some family. They certainly have a different view of life and death than we do. In the US, the parents of that little boy would either have killed her or made sure she spent the rest of her life in jail, never mind trying to keep her from jumping.
This is hardly worth reporting as international news.
Henrich-- hard times in the US news service these days..
This same story reported in our Australian paper today...Quote: This is the dramatic moment when family and friends ran desperately to stop a woman leaping from a 9 storey building. They did not know that Sheng Fi had smothered her 4 year old nephew only hours earlier after a family dispute and thrown his body from the same roof in Southern China. A police spokesman said "She will still die now, but by firing squad for murder". Throws a very different light than to the above story. At dreaful end for the little lad and his family.
That's a bummer.
This is such a disturbing story....I don't even know where to begin. The suffering of a 4yr old little boy is what terribly breaks my heart to begin with. The fact that this woman was mentally challenged with some disorder and the family left her with this little boy is even more disturbing. I don't truly understand the conditions of China and the people there, but I would have thought that a family that knew of her condition would have gotten help for her or at least not put her in the position of caretaker of such a young little one. Not only has this family lost this little boy but they will now lose this woman too as she will surely die by the law.
This story is truly heart breaking all the way around...they will truly be in my thoughts and prayers as they suffer such a tragic loss of a little one and also the suffering of knowing they will have to endure the pain of knowing that their other loved one will die as well.