Police: YouTuber Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah dead at 29

NYPD confirms death of 29-year-old YouTube personality

Desmond Amofah, the YouTube content creator widely known as Etika, has been found dead, according to a statement from the New York Police Department. A search for the 29-year-old Brooklyn resident began last week when Amofah was reported missing after posting a troubling video on YouTube in which he discussed thoughts of suicide.

YouTube deleted that video citing violations of the site’s community standards, but the video has since been reuploaded by others.

The NYPD posted a notice on Twitter on June 20 that it was seeking information about Amofah’s whereabouts in the wake of the original video. Two days later, the New York Post reported that police had found Amofah’s personal belongings, including identification, clothing, a cell phone, and Nintendo Switch, on the Manhattan Bridge. On Tuesday, the NYPD Twitter account posted confirmation of Amofah’s death.

We regret to inform that Desmond Amofah aka Etika has been found deceased. https://t.co/sedwZZxglw

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) June 25, 2019

Amofah started streaming on YouTube in 2012, and became well-known for his focus on Nintendo-related content and entertaining Super Smash Bros. character reveal reaction videos. On YouTube, Amofah amassed more than 800,000 subscribers to his primary Etika channel. YouTube banned the Etika account in October 2018 after Amofah reportedly deleted the channel’s content and uploaded pornography to the platform, a violation of YouTube’s content guidelines.

In April, Amofah livestreamed on Instagram a confrontation with the NYPD. According to a report from Kotaku, Amofah was threatening suicide, and was hospitalized. A month later, Amofah was hospitalized again after reportedly assaulting a police officer.

Over the past month, Amofah had been posting videos to another YouTube account, TR1Iceman, in which he posted videos on Nintendo Direct presentations, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and Black Mirror.

Polygon has reached out to the NYPD for a full statement.

Source: Polygon