John bruce actor facebook live suicide

Frederick Jay Bowdy, a year-old aspiring actor, shot himself in the head while sitting in his car early Monday on a Los Angeles street. Just before he committed suicide, he went on Facebook Live threatening to kill himself.

Mark Zuckerberg added Facebook Live to the social media giant in April to give users an alternative way to communicate with one another in real-time. “Live is like having a TV camera in your pocket. Anyone with a phone now has the power to broadcast to anyone in the world,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. During a media interview in April, he described Facebook Live as “raw and visceral.”

But in the months since, there have been numerous reports of suicide and suicide attempt cases shown live on Facebook. In some cases, the live suicide attempt allowed interventions from family members and law enforcement officials, while in others, viewers simply watched in horror