The former child actor mauled to death by a tiger at a wildlife park in England climbed two fences to get into the enclosure before the harrowing attack, coroners revealed.
“He climbed two fences and entered the tiger enclosure…He approached the tiger and following an interaction suffered multiple traumatic injuries,” the coroner said Thursday at a hearing into William Chapman’s shocking death, according to Yorkshire Live.
“He approached the tiger and, following an interaction, suffered multiple traumatic injuries.”
A heavy police and ambulance presence gathers at The Yorkshire Wildlife Park after a man jumped into a tiger enclosure and gunshots were fired. Rimmesfk/X
Chapman, who reportedly suffered from schizophrenia, was savaged by a tiger in a horrific, caught-on-camera attack in front of parkgoers at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Saturday.
The troubled former actor, 24, shared a video of himself walking up to Altai, a 420-pound Siberian tiger, on Instagram shortly before the fatal mauling.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, with his provisional cause of death later reported as multiple traumatic injuries and animal interaction.
Chapman’s family told coroners that he “had a history of mental illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia” and had been under the care of mental health services.
He was first spotted “pacing around with his headphones in” and “happily dancing” before asking fellow zoo-goers to snap a photo of him with the tiger in the background, according to witnesses.
An Altai tiger is pictured in an undated photo. @yorkshirewildlifepark/Instagram
As a child, Chapman appeared in the 2009 British miniseries “May Contain Nuts” and in BBC Learning’s “True Stories” series.
The 5-year-old Siberian tiger was detained by wildlife park staffers after the attack but will not be euthanized, park officials said.