Jamel Martinez (pictured) allegedly set fire to his family apartment's kitchen in Manhattan Saturday afternoon, and after firefighters arrived jumped from the roof of the building to his death
An 18-year-old suffering from mental illness died after plunging to his death from a Manhattan apartment building he allegedly set on fire.
Jamel Martinez reportedly started the blaze in the kitchen of his family's 10th story apartment at the New York City Housing Authority's East River Houses complex Saturday afternoon before jumping off the roof of the building, police told the New York Post.
Martinez had been released from Bellevue Hospital roughly a month ago after a struggle with depression, his father James White, told the outlet.
Roughly 80 firefighters responded to a call of a fire at the East 105th Street apartments at around 4.30pm, according to the Citizen App, and by around 5pm reported one person injured on the scene - later confirmed to be Martinez - who was soon pronounced dead.
By around 5.20pm, the fire was under control, the FDNY reported.
He said that amid the pressure of graduating high school and a struggle with drugs he believed his son was not ready to return to life on the outside.
'This is my son who did this. This is my son,' White, 53, who was on the scene of the fire Saturday afternoon, told the outlet.
'He wasn't supposed to leave Bellevue Hospital. I told Bellevue Hospital not to release him, take him to a program where he could get his mind right.'
Martinez' family was not home at the time of the blaze, police sources told the New York Daily News.
He fled after firefighters arrived at the apartment, although it is not clear if he went directly to
