Musician killed in elevator shaft fall

A 34 year-old drummer, admired for work in dance-punk and psychedelic bands, plunged five floors to his death in an elevator shaft at a converted warehouse in Williamsburg, yesterday.

Gerard Fuchs was a talented musician who was active in the indie music scene, said Alex Frankel his Lorimer Street roommate. The Village Voice profiled Fuchs in 2007 noting his work with bands !!! and Maserati.

“It’s rare that there’s a drummer so important,” said Frankel, 27. As Frankel arrived for a fundraiser at 338 Berry St. just before 1 a.m., he was told someone had just fallen down the elevator shaft. He saw a man lying on the floor inside the shaft and ran over.

“We flipped him over and it was Jerry,” said Frankel. “We didn’t know it would be him.”

Fuchs was in a manual freight elevator that stalled above the fifth floor. The elevator is not usually accessible unless the operator is present, tenants said. When Fuchs tried to jump from the elevator to the fifth floor, his clothing caught, pulling him backwards into the shaft, police said.