A 17-year-old has been charged with attempted murder after a 6-year-old boy was thrown from the viewing platform at the Tate Modern in the British capital on Sunday, London's Metropolitan Police said.
Police arrested the male suspect on Sunday after the boy, a French tourist, was thrown from the 10th floor of the London art gallery and landed on a fifth-floor roof, where he was found seriously injured and taken to a hospital by helicopter.
The teenager will appear in Bromley Youth Court at 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday, the statement said. Police are continuing to appeal for further witnesses to come forward.
An earlier statement from the police said the suspect did not appear to know the victim.
"The injured boy remains in a stable, but critical condition in hospital with his family, who continue to be supported by officers," the Metropolitan Police said.
The London Ambulance Service said it received the first call about the incident at 2:40 p.m. local time (9:40 a.m. EDT) on Sunday.
"We sent two ambulance crews, an incident response officer, a medic in a response car and an advanced paramedic to the scene. We also dispatched London's Air Ambulance and our Hazardous Area Response Team," a spokesperson said in a statement.
One visitor to the gallery, Nancy Barnfield, was on the 10th floor when the incident took place. After hearing a loud bang, she saw several people restraining a young man whom she said she previously noticed acting suspiciously.
She said the man, who appeared to be 19 to 21 years old, looked very calm and was not fighting back.
Other gallery visitors said on social media that the landmark building, on the south bank of the Thames, was locked down as a result of the incident. The Metropolitan Police later allowed visitors to leave. The gallery was closed to visitors following the incident.
The Tate Modern was the most visited tourist attraction in the United Kingdom in 2018, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. The group said the gallery welcomed 5.9 million people last year.
