Even as I posted Coronado Bridge Desperation, there was yet another anguished person making their way towards the bridge.

This suicide attempt was heavily reported in the news since the bridge was closed in both directions for almost six hours as negotiators talked to a distraught young man.

Not knowing anything about what was going on, I was startled to see a steady stream of cars going in either direction on Glorietta Blvd when I walked down to the Coronado Golf Course to meet friends.

As I got closer, I saw the red lights of the police cars at the end of the boulevard and realized that cars were being diverted. From the golf course, I looked upon an empty bridge. It is an eerie sight to see the bridge empty of cars in the light of day.

In the clubhouse, there was a lot of talk about the suicide attempt. Many golfers had seen the bridge being closed, the helicopter circling and all of the police activity. There were already reports that the person had skate boarded onto the bridge.

As darkness fell on the first day of summer, the lights from the Harbor Patrol boats flashed and reflected off the water on either side of the bridge.

We left before the bridge re-opened and didn’t find out until morning that the young man was quietly taken into custody at 11:50 pm and cars once again flowed across the bridge.

You can read about the incident in the news report Coronado Bridge standoff ends with surrender.

With the rise of social media and the technological progress of cell phones, news that would otherwise go untold is broadcast across the Internet instantaneously.

As we’ve discussed in the past, only attempted suicides by jumping off of the Coronado Bridge are officially reported. When people do actually jump to their deaths, no report is given to the public.

Sadly, we had one of each yesterday…

In the early morning hours, a man was seen contemplating jumping off of the bridge. After several hours of talking with a negotiator, he was quietly taken into custody and “saved”.

Later that day, a woman followed in his footsteps, only she was successful in her attempt. This may or may not have been told to the public but for a Coronado resident who witnessed the jump and spread his experience over the web. It was also later reported that her body was found floating in the bay.

It makes me wonder just how many suicides the bridge experiences each year. And are they are the rise?

What we have seen is that this act has no boundaries – it happens with people of all ages, it has no gender preference, or any other preferences that are clear. It is purely an act of desperate people.

Desperate people that leave devastated loved ones behind questioning, agonizing, filled in many cased with the guilt of “What if… or If only…”

I have lived in Coronado for over 14 years now and one of the many things I love about it is the sense of community and if you look beyond all of the tourists, its small town feel.

The suicide of a member of this community is jarring. Are we as a community missing something or have we lost something that we have so many members of our community wanting to end their lives?

I look at the bridge as a thing of beauty whether gazing at it from land or crossing it looking at Coronado nestled between the ocean and the bay with Pt. Loma standing guard. It is hard for me to think that so many think of it as an instrument of death.

Our thoughts, prayers and healing energy go out to those who have lost a loved one by their jumping off of the bridge.