A man has died after setting himself on fire outside the New York courthouse where former US President Donald Trump’s trial was being held on Friday. .
According to NBC News, the incident occurred in a designated protest area bustling with pro and anti-Trump demonstrators.
The deceased, identified as Maxwell Azzarello from St. Augustine, Florida, was in his mid-30s. According to police, before the fatal act, Azzarello was seen throwing pamphlets filled with conspiracy theories into the air. He then poured what is believed to have been an alcohol-based substance on himself from a canister he carried in his bag, before igniting the flames.
“Officers and civilians who were present attempted to extinguish the flames with coats and fire extinguishers,” stated New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. Despite the efforts, Azzarello succumbed to his injuries at Weill Cornell Medical Centre’s burn unit, where he had initially been listed in critical condition.
The pamphlets Azzarello distributed were described by NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny as “propaganda-based, almost a conspiracy theory type of pamphlet, containing information regarding a Ponzi scheme and claims that some local educational institutes are fronts for the mob.”
Four NYPD officers also sustained minor injuries while responding to the incident.
The self-immolation happened shortly after the jury selection concluded in Trump’s trial regarding alleged hush money payments.
The Trump campaign has expressed its condolences, stating late Friday, “Our thoughts are with the traumatised witnesses of this horrifying incident.”
Eyewitnesses and first responders were deeply affected by the scene. Ed Quinn, a freelance photojournalist present during the incident, reported, “I heard someone scream, ‘He’s going to light himself on fire!’ I saw him dumping gasoline on his face and his grey T-shirt. It soaked him completely, and then, boom, he went up. It took about a minute for police to arrive, during which women were begging and screaming, ‘Put it out, put him out!'”
Authorities have confirmed that Azzarello did not appear to have a specific person or group as a target. Police have been in touch with his family, who were unaware of his presence in New York City at the time of the tragedy.
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