The Harvard Crimson CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (U-WIRE) -- Philip Gale, a 19-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduate, jumped to his death out of the 15th floor window of an MIT science building shortly after 7:30 p.m. Friday night. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Massachusetts General Hospital at 8:05 p.m. An MIT spokesperson said the school was considering the incident an apparent suicide. Gale is thought to have thrown a chair through the window's thick plate glass before jumping from the building. MIT students in a dormitory directly across from the building heard the breaking glass. "I heard the glass break, but people had been smashing glass bottles for a couple of days so I didn't think anything of it," said Brian Sniffen, an MIT sophomore. Sniffen said he heard the crash of the object that went through the window, followed by "a scream that make me look out the window and then I saw him on the ground. "I don't think I will ever forget that scream," he added. Sniffen immediately called the MIT Campus Police, as did several other onlookers. Two witnesses administered CPR in a failed attempt to resuscitate Gale. Campus Police arrived a few minutes later and continued to administer CPR until an ambulance arrived to take Gale to the hospital. Gale had discussed the possibility of suicide recently, according to his roommate, Eric Hu. "[Gale] mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. He had considered it and dismissed it," Hu said. "He was just bored with life and I guess just depressed that he was destined to be bored for the rest of his life." Gale was "probably the smartest person I've ever interacted with that closely. He always seemed to be thinking on another level," Hu added. In a statement posted on the MIT Web home page, a spokesperson for the school urged students and other concerned members of the MIT community to seek counseling. No information is available at this time about a memorial service or funeral for Gale, who was originally from Charlotte, N.C.
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