Police say teenager who threw six-year-old off 10th-floor South London platform did not know him

Police say there is nothing to suggest a 17-year-old knew the child he grabbed and threw over a ledge 10 floors up.

The teenager has been arrested after the six-year-old was thrown from height at the Tate Modern gallery, Bankside, in Southwark.

Police were called at around 2.40pm yesterday, Sunday, 4 August, to reports of a young boy thrown from the tenth floor viewing platform of the gallery.

An air ambulance attended with paramedics and police to find the six year-old victim on a fifth floor roof. He was treated at the scene and taken to hospital by London’s Air Ambulance. The boy’s condition is critical; his family are being supported by police.

A 17-year-old male who had stayed at the scene with the crowds on the 10th floor viewing platform was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. “There is nothing to suggest he knew the six-year-old,” said police.

A number of members of the public are assisting police with witness statements. Visitors to the gallery have been allowed to leave.