CLAIM
A 31-second-long video has been shared online with a claim that a man in Italy killed himself after he lost his entire family due to coronavirus. This video which is being circulated on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.
A tweet be a user called ‘RHN’ has the same claim and the video had been viewed over 9,000 times at the time of writing the story.
The same message is viral in Hindi on Facebook and the text reads, “इटली का यह अरब पति अपने होटल के छत से कुद कर जान दे दिया क्योंकि उसका पुरा खानदान क्रोनावायरस से समाप्त हो गया था ... दौलत और शोहरत कोई काम नहीं आयी ...अब भी समझ जाओ |”
[Translation: This millionaire in Italy jumped from the terrace of his own hotel after he lost his entire family to coronavirus. His wealth couldn’t save his family.]
TRUE OR FALSE?
The video is being shared with a completely false claim. Firstly, the video is as old as 2015, which is long before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Secondly, the video is not from Italy but Philadelphia in the United States of America.
Reportedly, the 37-year-old man jumped from the 25th floor of Embassy Suites Hotel in May 2015. His death was ruled a suicide.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On fragmenting the video into several keyframes and using Yandex reverse search we came across an article on a website called ‘911 Breaking’. This article was published in 2015 and had mentioned that the incident happened at the Embassy Suites Hotel, located at Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
We further analysed the video and noticed the sign on the car of the cops’. This sign matched with the logo of Philadelphia Police.
Taking a cue from the address mentioned on the website, we looked up on Google Earth to ascertain the location. We were able to ascertain the incident indeed happened at Embassy Suites Hotel and that the video was from Philadelphia.
You can look at a detailed view of the area here.
Finally we found a news article on a website called ‘Philly Mag’, which identifies itself as a news and opinion magazine in Philadelphia.
The article had mentioned the details of the incident and identified the man as Sean McGrellis.
You can read all our fact-checked stories on coronavirus here.
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