A man who appeared to have “fallen or jumped” was pronounced dead inside an Amazon facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday morning, police said.
Police officers arrived just before 7 am and found the man inside the building on the East Tropical Parkway, in the northeast corner of the Las Vegas metropolitan area, said Alexander Cuevas, a spokesman for the North Las Vegas Police Department.
“Detectives have been called and the cause and manner of death will be revealed by the coroner,” he said, adding that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had been notified.
Amazon spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski said, “We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident. Your family and loved ones are in our thoughts and we are supporting our employees during this difficult time.”
She said employees were sent home with payment shortly after the incident and that they were receiving grieving advice.
An Amazon employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing her job said that when she arrived for work shortly after 7 am, police cars and ambulances were in the parking lot.
Shortly afterwards, members of the Amazon team began to install barricades adjacent to the location where the worker was found, the official said.
“Nobody knew what was going on,” she said. “Everyone was so confused.”
The woman said that supervisors told workers to continue working until about 9:40 am, when they were sent home.
“It really upsets me,” she said. “The managers knew what was going on and were going to the area, but they didn’t send us home immediately. Someone just passed away. It just proves that Amazon managers don’t really care, as long as they stick to their numbers.”
The facility, known as LAS7 in honor of the airport code near Las Vegas airport, opened in May 2019. It is the largest Amazon service center in the state, with 855,000 square feet.
According to a post on Reddit, management sent a text message to LAS7 workers telling night workers not to come to work and saying that day and night workers would be paid for their regular shifts.
“LAS7 plans to open during normal 3/2 business hours,” was what the text allegedly read. “Thank you and we know that we appreciate and value you.”
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
