A 19-year-old who died after jumping from Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday was being remembered as a standout baseball player with a promising future, leaving family, friends and former teammates grappling with unanswered questions.
Police said Avery Truesdale, of Arcadia, jumped from the 27th-floor observation deck on the Spring Street side of the landmark downtown building and landed on the front steps. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed his identity.
Truesdale, a 2025 graduate of Arcadia High School, was a top outfielder for the Arcadia Apaches, where he wore jersey number 13 and posted a .310 batting average across three seasons on the varsity baseball team.
The 6-foot-2 athlete also competed for the San Gabriel Valley Arsenal Baseball travel team, widely regarded as one of California’s leading college development programs.
News of his sudden death has shaken those closest to him, with loved ones and former teammates struggling to understand what led to the tragedy.
“The light he brought into every room touched everyone who knew him,” read an online fundraiser launched to help Truesdale’s family cover funeral expenses.
“His loss is being felt deeply by teammates, coaches, classmates, teachers, friends, and all who knew him,” the Apaches said in a statement.
Emergency crews responded to Los Angeles City Hall shortly after 4 p.m. after receiving reports that someone had fallen from the upper floors of the downtown building.
Law enforcement sources told The California Post that Truesdale leaped to his death in an apparent suicide. Truesdale was not a City of Los Angeles employee and was wearing a visitor badge when his body was discovered.
Visitors to Los Angeles City Hall are required to pass through a security screening, obtain a temporary visitor badge, and tell security personnel the purpose of their visit and the office or destination they are visiting before being allowed into the building.
On Thursday, parts of Los Angeles City Hall remained cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape as investigators continued their work.
Steel security doors also blocked public access to portions of the building.
The City Hall observation deck, however, remained open to visitors.
“Avery was a great kid and baseball player,” said Frank Rizzi, a former Apache teammate of Truesdale, on social media. “RIP big guy.”
Longtime Holly Avenue Elementary School teacher Stacy Hoherd-Harris remembered Truesdale as the greatest student PE teacher to ever work in her class.
“His kindness, enthusiasm, passion, encouragement, and positivity made learning PE skills and games so much fun for my first graders,” said Hoherd-Harris in a social media post. “My heart is broken.”
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating Truesdale’s death.
