For more than an hour, while police successfully worked to talk her out of jumping, the South Loop area near the Board of Trade building looked like a scene from NBC’s “Chicago P.D.” television show.
Police were tight lipped on details but said the woman was on the parking structure sometime after 6:45 p.m. and had been up there for about 45 minutes.
Many onlookers noticed the strong Chicago Police and Fire Department presence before knowing there was a woman standing on the edge of the parking facility.
Michelle Lloyd, 30, from Chicago, said she was on her way to an after-work-hours function at the Chicago Board of Trade, 147 W. Jackson Blvd. She said, “I parked my car and walked outside, and it was police everywhere. I had no idea what was going on.”
David Mabane, a party promoter and Purdue University graduate student, said, “I saw police taping up the street. I thought somebody got shot.”
Police on the scene would not comment further.