A 23-year-old man in Peru committed suicide last night, and it appears that he might have been inspired by the deceased heroine of 13 Reasons Why. Franco Alonso Lazo Medrano jumped from the fourth floor of his apartment building and People reports that he yelled “I can’t stand a heartbreak,†as his mother looked on. After surviving the fall initially, he was declared dead at the hospital. The police reportedly later found two suicide notes in his home, one of which was a farewell to a person named Claudia, and the other directing a series of tapes to be distributed to a list of people Medrano had written down. The content of the tapes has not been shared, so it is not confirmed whether or not Medrano created his recordings for people he believes contributed to his decision to kill himself, just as Hannah Baker did on the Netflix hit show, nor is it confirmed that Medrano saw or was inspired by the show.
Still, the news is concerning in light of the controversy that has surrounded 13 Reasons’ depiction of suicide. Netflix has attached disclaimers and warnings to the program, but 13 Reasons has still made enough people uncomfortable about the possibility that it glamorizes suicide for the series to be banned in certain schools. Several in Canada have even asked students not to talk about 13 Reasons while on campus, and sent messages to parents encouraging them to have discussions with their children about the content of the show.