A man, who was on trial in US District Court in Fargo, died by suicide by cutting slitting his throat with an object.
According to North Dakota US Marshal Dallas Carlson, the incident took place on Monday afternoon after a jury returned a partial guilty verdict against the man, reported KVRR.
The man, who was identified as 55-year-old Jeffrey Ferris, was on trial in connection to an incident on the Turtle Mountian Indian Reservation that happened in April last year. According to court records, he drove a jeep towards children and almost hit them. Also, he allegedly assaulted a person with a handgun.
Ferris faced charges of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment, terrorizing, and using a firearm in a violent felony.
“He produced an edge weapon and cut his throat,” Carlson said.
The US Marshal Service and the FBI are looking into the matter.
"The guy turned around and you could see the inside of his neck. He had slit his neck with some object... don’t know if it was plastic or what it was. One of the other attorneys in there said it looked like a pen, but his attorney said it looked like a scalpel,” a witness told Valley News Live.
The witness added that it looked like the man cut his throat after a verdict was reached in his case.
Meanwhile, Fargo Police appealed to young people to avoid suicide, reported KVRR. Last year two Fargo high school students died by suicide.
"It's devastating when something happens to a kid in our community. It's devastating when anything happens to a kid but when it is a kid that you might have seen in your community or you might have known and you just think if you have kids of your own that could be my kid in ten years, you think I got to do all I can to make a difference on this issue,” Officer Michael Bloom said.
In the "Break the Silence” documentary by the police department, people shared their experiences related to suicide. “I love you guys. That’s the last thing he heard me say. Came home a little over an hour later, our world had changed,” said Todd and Elizabeth, Liam's parents.
“We saw each other every day. she took me to school she was saying goodbye,” said Megan, Kati’s sister. The aim of this free video is that local schools and families focus on prevention and education of suicide. “Please reach out because your life matters so much and it’s devastating or would be devastating if something happened to you,” Bloom said.
