Despicable Me Ride
(IN PHOTO): A worker climbs a ladder at the new "Despicable Me Minion Mayhem" ride, which is in technical rehearsals, at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California March 28, 2014. The adorable yellow goggle-wearing Minions of "Despicable Me" are not just taking over the Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood, they're ringing in a revamp of the film-themed park as it takes on competing resorts with blockbuster rides. "Despicable Me Minion Mayhem" officially opens on April 12 at the Hollywood adventure park. Picture taken March 28. Reuters

It was a scene straight from a Hollywood soap opera. Couple calls it quits, but man refuses to give up. So, despite court order, he goes to the workplace of his girlfriend and threatens to kill himself.

To make the death scene more dramatic, he shots himself in the head in a public area as horrified onlookers watched his guts spill on the floor. The only problem is although it happened on Good Friday in the Universal Studio Park, it was not a movie.

It was real life, reports New York Daily News. The man who shot himself in the head, who was from California, did it beside a “Despicable Me” ride after he failed to see his former girlfriend who is a park employee.

The ex-couple has a child but has separated. The woman got a restraining order, but the man insisted on seeing her. Last week, the man vandalised her car, which prompted the woman to seek the court order. When she saw him, the woman informed security at 2:15 pm.

The park security saw the man in a smoking area behind the “Minion Mayhem” ride. When security approached him, the man retrieves a gun from his back pocket and placed it in his mouth.

Lt Eddie Hernandez, deputy of the Los Angeles Sheriff, said he tried to talk the man out of shooting himself, but the man paced back and forth for around 30 seconds and then pulled the trigger.

Four park visitors witnessed the incident. Zanell Mitchell, who saw the man shoot himself as she and her mother got off the ride, was traumatised. She said, “I couldn’t stop crying because I was really, really scared.”

Police explained the gun to the park not having metal detectors and just inspecting bags at the entrance. The park is still open despite the incident. However, when the incident happened, the rides where the suicide happened stopped and the area cleared of visitors, according to NBC.

On Saturday, the LA County Coroner’s investigator identified the man as Andrew Thomas James of Fullerton.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au

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