A father reportedly threw his young son off a 52-story Manhattan building amid his ugly battle for custody with the mother. Police officials said it was only the first day that the father was allowed to be alone with his son when he decided to throw him off of an apartment in a murder-suicide case.

"There was a history of domestic turmoil," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Circulating reports state that Dmitriy Kanarikov picked up his 3-year-old son at 10 a.m. at a Manhattan police precinct Sunday. Kanarikov was allowed to spend time with his son for the first time "outside of some sort of institutional setting," added Kelly.

"He picked up the son and we all know now tragically he went to a building. ... (and) took the son to the roof," Kelly said. "All indications are he threw him off and that's when he jumped himself."

According to investigators, the father and son were able to enter the building, located a short distance away from Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center because a dear friend had once lived there. The doorman didn't even try to stop then based on the security video retrieved during the investigation. Meanwhile, Kanarikov's Lexus was reportedly parked outside.

Officers responded right away when an emergency call prompted them about the two jumper from a tall building on the Upper East Side around noon Sunday.

Kanarikov was pronounced dead at the scene while his son, Kirill Kanarikov, was pronounced dead at a hospital later on. Witnesses claimed that the boy was wearing Christmas pajamas at the time of the incident.

Meanwhile, Kelly said that the motive for the tragedy is still unknown since there is still no evidence that the said father had threatened to harm or kill his son. Nonetheless, he was quoted saying that "unless she signed over the house to him and some undisclosed property, he was going to take the child."

Kanarikov and his wife reportedly married in 2009 and decided to live in Brooklyn when their son was born a year later. The couple separated last year and Kanarikov's son and his wife moved to New Jersey and obtained an order of protection.