Latest Facebook Live death stream sees Alabama man take own life

A 49-year-old man from Alabama has become the latest person to perform a fatal act on Facebook Live after he shot himself in the head with a rifle.

James Jeffrey, from Robertsdale, who was said to be distraught after breaking up with his girlfriend, was chatting with online friends in front of a camera on Tuesday (25 April) when he produced a gun and shot himself, dying almost immediately.

Horrified Facebook users called police who were already on their way to Jeffrey's home after a woman said Jeffrey had stopped returning her calls.

Baldwin County Sheriff's Office said they arrived at Jeffrey's property at around 11 pm to find him dead. The Facebook Live video was viewed around 1,000 times before being removed two hours later. It will be used in evidence, police say.

Baldwin County assistant chief deputy Anthony Lowery said: "This was a first for us, I hope this isn't a trend starting. It's one thing to commit suicide. It's another thing to victimise other people."

The apparent suicide comes as Facebook comes under increased pressure to do more to monitor its live streaming service, and to take down videos as soon as possible. There have been a number of high profile incidents in recent weeks, including the live murder of 74-year-old pensioner Robert Godwin by by Steve Stephens in Cleveland on 16 April. Stephens later shot himself.

Thai man Wuttisan Wongtalay killed his 11-month-old baby daughter Natalie in a live Facebook stream before killing himself in a horrific video viewed hundreds of thousands of times before being removed. However the mother of the baby said she did not blame Facebook, whose boss Mark Zuckerberg said the company needed to monitor broadcasts better.