"On March 23 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to the head caused by a shotgun. Investigation to that point had revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten story building with the intent to commit suicide. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this. . . ."
Obviously the narrative's main selling point is irony, which also promises a clue to its veracity. In the world of urban legendry, suicide attempts almost always have an ironic outcome -- as in the familiar (and apocryphal) tale of the man who was so disconsolate after being fired from his job that he leapt from his office window, only to land on the manager who fired him on the sidewalk below, killing the latter instead. In each case, the impact of the story derives from the "poetic justice" brought about by a freakish coincidence -- too freakish, perhaps, to be believable.
