The “Despicable Me Minion Mayhem” ride at Universal Studios in Hollywood played host to a desperate man’s death by suicide on Friday. The man shot himself, causing the portion of the park to be shut down. A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson told CBS Los Angeles the deputies responded to a call around 2:24 pm about a possible suicide at Universal Studios Hollywood. When they arrived, the man was dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The incident reportedly took place in an area designated for smokers behind the “Despicable Me” ride, the park’s newest attraction. The man’s horrifying act was fortunately out of the view of many, but children and families were still near-by to witness the event. Park-goers were corralled into an area away from the scene for safety reasons, and the area where the incident occurred remained sectioned off for investigators to piece together exactly what happened.

An important issue this tragic incident raises is how a gun got into the park in the first place. “That shouldn’t have gotten passed security but they don’t really search like belt lines and stuff. They just do bags so you can walk through. Maybe he had it but still they should do a metal detector, maybe,” Preston Scharf, a park-goer, said.

 

No other details were immediately available.