Teen arrested after boy thrown from building
A teenager was LONDON — arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a 6-year-old boy was thrown from Tate Modern museum in London on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said.
The child was tossed from the 10th-floor viewing platform and landed on the fifthfloor roof, the police said in a statement. The victim was treated at the site and then airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.
The 17-year-old male suspect was arrested by police officers on the same viewing platform.
“There is nothing to suggest that he is known to the victim,” the police statement said.
The episode led to the lockdown of the renowned museum, with some visitors saying on social media that they were trapped inside, and others saying they were turned away.
A police spokeswoman said authorities were called to the museum about 2:45 p.m. The London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance also responded to the scene. Images and video shared on Twitter showed a helicopter landing outside Turbine Hall and visitors huddled in the museum’s cafe.
Tate Modern is on the south bank of the River Thames, across the Millennium Bridge from St. Paul’s Cathedral in the British capital. It holds galleries of modern and contemporary art in more than 371,000 square feet of space and has been one of the world’s most popular art museums since opening in 2000.
Helen Jones, 46, an education consultant who was visiting with her 11-year-old daughter, Isabel Jones, said the police operation meant they had initially been stuck in the museum before being allowed to exit.
“We were locked in,” she said. “We couldn’t leave.”
“I was a bit shocked,” the girl said. “I feel a bit better now we’re out.”
Some people sat on the floor of Turbine Hall waiting to be let out. Others waited in the museum’s coffee shops. The museum’s exhibitions were closed for the rest of the day.
Nicki Raymundo, a student in London, said she had tried to enter the museum to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition “In Real Life,” but could not get in. “Thirty minutes ago, people were let out,” she said, “but then they just closed the doors.”
Another visitor, Kevin Stow, 58, who was viewing the same exhibition, said, “We were asked to stay inside” until the lockdown ended. He said patrons could move around and were told there was “an incident.”
“There was no panicking,” he added. “It was all very calm.”
Ash Rosen, 24, said: “When we were inside the exhibition, we were not told anything.”
Visitors often flock to the museum’s balcony on Level 10, the top floor, to admire a 360-degree panorama of London. The terrace opened as part of an extension in 2016 and offers views of some of the city’s famous landmarks, including St. Paul’s Cathedral; the Leadenhall Building, a skyscraper better known as the Cheesegrater for its distinctive appearance; and the Houses of Parliament.
The platform also offers views into nearby luxury apartments. In 2017, residents of four of the properties began a court case demanding that the museum close that side of the platform or at least put up screens, citing a “relentless” invasion of privacy from onlookers.
But in February this year, the British High Court ruled against their case.