MANHATTAN — A 71-year-old woman died after jumping from the fifth floor of a building on East 50th Street Monday morning, police and witnesses said.
The woman died after leaping from the building between First and Second avenues at about 9:20 a.m., the NYPD said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
An NYPD spokesman said the incident happened outside the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Latvia to the United States at 333 E. 50th St., though embassy officials confirmed the woman did not jump from their building.
Her body appeared to be across the street from the embassy building.
A maintenance worker at 333 E. 49th St., which has an entrance on East 50th Street, said a passerby saw the fatal fifth-floor plunge and called 911.
The worker, Mario, who declined to provide his last name, said the woman was a tenant of 333 E. 49th St. and lived alone.
"She used to play with my dogs," said Maria Mellon, a 30-year resident of the block, adding that she didn't know the woman's name but that she had seen only days earlier.
"She was a nice lady. The last time I saw her was two days ago. We said, 'Hi, how are you?'"
Police said their investigation was ongoing.
