From his bedroom in Bologna he had become a TikTok star, dressing up as the character of one of the most famous war video games, Call of Duty. Inquisitor Ghost, this is how the 23-year-old Bolognese called himself who committed suicide on Tuesday evening live on social media, while thousands of people were following him.
A tragedy in real time, which left all his followers speechless who began to storm the police switchboards with calls. Phone calls also came from abroad, but for the 23-year-old it was too late. The carabinieri are now working on the reason for the suicide, which have already sent an information to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Meanwhile, several reconstructions are circulating online, according to which the 23-year-old was a victim of cyberbullying. Accusations also supported by the father: "My son - he writes - was a very original creator, he was a true artist, but the envy of these useless evil people killed him, they organized a false story about my beloved son, so delicate inside and could not survive to be so aggressively defamed and the only way he found to "protect" himself from dishonor and prove his innocence was his death".
The young man who committed suicide two nights ago was a cosplay, that is, he turned into a video game or movie character, wearing the skull mask with the empty eyes of the Ghost soldier or that of the Sith of Star Wars. On TikTok many do like him, creating stories and parallel worlds, and above all relationships between fans of that specific context, which are found in every corner of the world. The 23-year-old was very popular on platforms and communities: his profile, immediately obscured by the Chinese social network, had almost 300 thousand followers.
In these hours many TikTok creators, Italians, but especially Americans, have made videos to reconstruct what happened in the last hours of the 23-year-old, moving, in some cases, precise accusations of cyberbullying. According to what many people tell, the young Bolognese would have met a girl online in the Call of Duty fandom and, after she had told her that he was of age, they had begun to exchange messages in chat. The girl, actually 17 years old. And to what is reported by many on TikTok, the minor would have sent the chats to other creators of the Call of Duty fan community who would have spread them, accusing the 23-year-old from Bologna of "pedophilia". From here a real wave of hatred would have been unleashed, raising a storm of insults on Inquisitor Ghost so much so that he would, for a period, have stopped posting videos. Until Tuesday night when he went live and took his own life.
Even two days ago his followers were on the other side of the video as the 23-year-old committed suicide. Emergency calls arrived to 113, the carabinieri and the local police.
Several people called Italy from abroad to raise the alarm. The father of the 23-year-old was also contacted by someone who was following his live broadcast and so he immediately rushed to his son's house by breaking through a French door, but there was nothing to do. Rescuers arrived shortly after.
The 23-year-old was going through a difficult period. He left his father a note where he apologized for his gesture and begged him to take care of the cat he loved so much and who was often the protagonist, together with his guitar, of his very popular videos.
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA