Man dies outside primary school near North Richmond’s controversial injecting room

Parents picking up their children have described the “confronting” scene as a man died just metres from the school’s front gates, next to the controversial injecting room.

The man died on Wednesday outside Richmond West Primary School.

A man has died just metres from the front gates of a primary school next to North Richmond’s controversial injecting room.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said it was understood a man collapsed along the corner of Lennox and Peers streets about 2pm on Wednesday.

“Paramedics tried to revive him, but he died at the scene,” the spokeswoman said.

“Police will prepare a report for the coroner following a death in Richmond on Wednesday, September 4,” the spokeswoman said.

The man is yet to be formally identified, with his death not being treated as suspicious.

Photos sent to the Herald Sun showed a large presence of police and paramedics, as well as a white screen.

Multiple parents, who were picking up their children from Richmond West Primary School, described the scene as “confronting”.

Emergency services at the scene outside Richmond West Primary School.

The incident occurred as students from the adjacent primary school were leaving for the day, with one witness saying the children were instructed to exit via the back entrance.

As Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said paramedics were called to an incident in Richmond around 2:45pm today.

“Refer to VicPol for details,” they said.

Shadow Minister for Mental Health Emma Kealy said “Labor’s injecting room honey pot has brought drug dealers, horrific anti-social behaviour and overdose deaths to the front gate of a primary school. How many dead bodies do our children need to see before Premier Allan acts?”

“Labor botched the injecting room when they built it next door to a primary school, and it’s young children that are paying the price,” Ms Kealy said.

“Ontario has recently made the obvious, common sense move to ban injecting rooms within 200m of schools. Labor should follow suit and put the lives of young schoolchildren first.”

It comes less than a month after a schoolgirl was hit in the face by a woman acting erratically outside the neighbouring Richmond injecting room.

A spate of shocking incidents near North Richmond’s injecting room have been reported since it opened in June 2018, including a man being found dead near the school in 2021 and other shocking reports of overdoses.

Originally published as Man dies outside primary school near North Richmond’s controversial injecting room