On September 22, 1961, the F. family fled from their third-floor apartment at Bernauer Straße 7 into the rescue net of the West Berlin fire department. Their neighbors notified the border police. When Mrs. F. was standing on the window sill, a border guard from the building next door ordered her to climb back into the apartment immediately. West Berlin police fired tear gas at the border guard who had fired a warning shot from his machine pistol to stop the woman from escaping. Mrs. F. jumped into the rescue net. As border guards were forcing their way into the apartment, her husband dropped their five-year-old son down before jumping himself.