For nearly two hours, tensions rose among the faithful attending Sunday church and tourists who walked by Puerto Vallarta’s iconic Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as a man climbed to the bell tower and threatened to jump.
The man claimed to have been falsely accused of robbery and was having family problems, so he did not want to continue living, however, thanks to the work of Civil Protection elements, Firefighters and Tourist Police, they managed to rescue the man and offer psychological help.
At 9:50 a.m., authorities received a report informing them that a man was in the bell tower of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe threatening to jump.
Immediately, firefighters arrived on board B-57, B-64 and B-67 units along with Municipal Police, who on arrival confirmed that the person was on the edge of the belfry, approximately 20 meters high.
Authorities installed an Incident Command post, where they started with the anchoring of security lines and planning the most effective maneuver for rescuing the man. Starting with the first contact of the 24 year old male, who mentioned have problems with his ex partner and had not seen his daughter for 6 years, as well as conflicts with people, because they blamed him for a robbery he said he did not commit.
Civil Protection officials and firefighters began with psychological intervention, succeeding in gaining the confidence of the individual and managed to convince him come down from the bell tower at 11:00 a.m.
The man was transferred to the police station where it’s reported he received psychological support by specialists.
This was not the first time suicide was attempted at Our Lady of Guadalupe. A little more than 40 years, a man threatened to jump from the bell tower but later came down without incidente.
