I didn't know about this! What a pity, but I wonder what kind of karma one has reaped that results in them taking their own lives because of a joke. I wonder what was in his mind when he was thinking about performing that act..maybe it was his negative karma that blocked his ability to rationalise and realise the potential danger that could have happened. I reckon this is suicide, maybe no one knew what was going through his head and he intended the result as that. Who knows.
Funny how our karma ripens sometimes, in certain conditions. We have to constantly create merits to ensure that our negative karma, which we have to suffer anyways, will ripen in a condition that will lessen our suffering.