A man from Memphis, Tennessee, committed suicide by setting fire to himself while broadcasting the incident on Facebook Live, according to a report.
The man, who has been identified as local musician Jared McLemore, proceeded run inside a bar while on fire, Saturday, before dying of “severe” burns at a local hospital.
“It was the most horrific thing I’ve seen,” said one witness, who added that McLemore targeted the bar because his ex-girlfriend worked there.
“Court records show that McLemore threatened to kill his ex and was sentenced to probation on domestic assault charges last month,” reported NBC News on Sunday. “The community raised more than $18,000 for the woman so she could attend trauma therapy and replace her audio equipment — which was damaged in the fire.”
One other man was also injured and taken to hospital after he was burned in an attempt to kick the lighter out of McLemore’s hand. He is expected to make a full recovery.
This month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he would be hiring 3,000 new employees to sort through violent content on the platform, following a spike in video suicides and murders on the site.
“We know we need to do better,” said the company in a statement following numerous incidents, which included the revelation that one murder video had been on the platform for hours before removal.
Earlier this month, police officers managed to save a teenager from a suicide attempt, which was being filmed on Facebook Live.
In April, an Alabama man live streamed his suicide on Facebook Live following a relationship breakup, while a Thai father also streamed himself hanging his 11-month-old child before killing himself.
In January, four people were arrested in Chicago after they filmed themselves torturing and beating a tied up disabled man, who was repeatedly forced to say, “f*ck Trump,” and, “f*ck white people,” while on Easter Sunday, Facebook user Steve Stephens filmed himself shooting and killing 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. before he evaded police for days – eventually committing suicide in a standoff.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.
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