Teen Drinks Cyanide on College TV, Dies
A 17-year-old boy drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid on live, closed-circuit television and died on the floor of the Hampshire College studio while his brother and friends laughed and urged him to quit joking, students said Thursday.
When Andrew L. Hermann refused to quit his “act” on the comedy show, students carried him into a hall. Security guards later found he was dead.
“Everyone thought it was a joke. No one realized he had actually done it,” said Philip Jackson, production manager of the broadcast.
Lt. David Jankowski said police were notified of the death by the Hampshire County medical examiner after Hermann was pronounced dead Wednesday night at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
“Cyanide-laced Kool-Aid is suspected and we feel at this time the youth mixed and drank the liquid knowing it was lethal,” Jankowski said.
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