GRANITEVILLE — A man was discovered hanged by a rope from a gate behind a Staten Island middle school Thursday morning, police said.
The man, whose identity was not immediately released, was found about 7:15 a.m. in a play area behind 20 Houston St., which houses Edwin Markham I.S. 51, NYPD and FDNY officials said.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. He showed no visible signs of trauma leading police to believe he may have committed suicide, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
Some students who arrived early that morning saw the man's body hanging until teachers rushed them back inside.
"This morning, when I went to the park, there was blood everywhere on the swings," said Mark Tossas, a sixth grader at the middle school.
Mark called his father, Elliot Tossas, and asked to be picked up, the father said. They saw the body again as they returned home.
"I feel bothered about it personally, for a kid that age [to see that]. I'm speechless," Elliot Tossas said.
