Teenager charged with attempted murder after child thrown from Tate Modern gallery
A teenager has been charged with attempted murder after a child was thrown from the 10th floor viewing platform of the Tate Modern gallery on the weekend.
The 17-year-old male, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged after a six-year-old boy sustained serious injuries in the “truly shocking” incident on Sunday.
Read more: Child in critical condition after he was thrown from Tate Modern viewing platform
Police said the child remained in a critical but stable condition yesterday after an air ambulance airlifted him to hospital.
The suspect will appear at Bromley Youth Court at 10am today accused of trying to kill the child, who is reportedly a French citizen visiting London with his family.
London Air Ambulance paramedics found the child on the fifth floor roof of the Tate Modern on Sunday afternoon having plunged five storeys.
Officers arrested a male at the scene after members of the public moved to detain him until police arrived.
The Metropolitan Police have ruled out any connection between the boy and the suspect in custody.
Ambulances and police officers were called to the scene at around 2.40pm on Sunday and closed the gallery to visitors in order to speak to witnesses and secure the crime scene.
“This was a truly shocking incident, and people will understandably be searching for answers,” DCI John Massey said yesterday in an appeal for witnesses.
“It would have been incredibly distressing to watch, and it may be that you left Tate Modern very quickly after. If you have not yet spoken to us about what you saw, please contact us without delay.
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“My team is also very keen to talk to you if you witnessed a male whose behaviour seemed out of place, suspicious or worrying, in the hour or two before the incident in or near the gallery.”
He added that police were “providing around the clock support to the little boy’s family”.