In a bizarre incident, a user of the infamous 4chan /b/ imageboard staged a suicide attempt on video stream that was watched by more than 200 people.
Stephen, a 20-year-old college student from University of Guelph in Canada, announced his intention to commit suicide on the anonymous board Saturday night. He claimed he was acting as 'a hero' in the parlance of /b/, reported Daily Dot.
"As an oldfag who's been on 4chan since 2004, I thought I would finally give back to the community," he wrote. "I am willing to an hero on cam for you all."
A user responded to this post by setting up a video chatroom on Chateen, which Stephen joined under the username LOLDoge, based on a popular meme on /b/.
It is believed that Stephen ingested unidentified pills with vodka and crawled under his bed after setting fire to his room using a toaster.
A video available on LiveLeak shows the room filling up with smoke and Stephen on fire. The video also shows firefighters entering the room and pulling him out from under the bed.
According to the Daily Mail, the University of Guelph has confirmed that Stephen was a student there and that he deliberately set fire to his dorm room. The victim is still in the hospital with his mother.
"He can't talk to anyone at the moment. His mom is with him and we may be able to talk to him in the next day or two. He's going to be in a fragile state. We're respecting his privacy and need to recover with the interest it's a difficult balance," a staff member told the Daily Mail.
The incident has turned the victim into a legend on /b/ and has been nicknamed "Toaster Steve".
