Manhattan - Artist Commits Suicide In Crowded Shopping Center
 

Death Leap At Time Warner Tower

A Manhattan artist plunged to his death inside the Time Warner Center yesterday, horrifying lunchtime shoppers.

Glenn Moosnick, 35, climbed over a glass railing at the top of the shopping center's grand atrium and swan-dived more than 50 feet, slamming onto the mall floor just after noon, police and witnesses said.

"It was awful. It was horrible," said Jeffrey Savitch, 49, who was on his way to eat lunch in the $1.7 billion, 55-story complex at Columbus Circle.

The forceful impact sent a loud explosion echoing through The Shops at Columbus Circle, and scattered dozens of people.

"People thought a bomb went off. That's how loud it was," said a worker at J.W. Cooper, who was standing a few feet from where Moosnick landed. "He fell right in front of us. It's not something I'll ever forget."

Moosnick, who lived in Hell's Kitchen, had battled schizophrenia, according to relatives who described him as an artist and a caring man.

His suicide was the latest in a string of unsettling incidents at the complex. Two men died during the skyscraper's construction. And in April 2003, a spectacular blaze caused more than $8 million worth of damage.

was he by any chance painting a picture of tom savini?