Warning: This article contains an image that some may find disturbing.
A man who set himself on fire Friday outside the courthouse hosting former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial has died, New York City police said early Saturday.
The man, identified by police as Maxwell Azzarello of St. Augustine, Florida, was outside in the designated protest area.
Police have not given a time of death. He was pronounced deceased by staff at the hospital he was taken to, the NYPD said.
NYPD Department Chief Jeffrey B. Maddrey told reporters that Azzarello walked into the middle of the park, shuffled his clothes, opened a backpack, took it out and threw numerous pamphlets on the ground. He then pulled out a canister, poured a liquid accelerant on himself, set himself on fire, fell onto a police barrier and then fell to the ground.
Police said the man entered Collect Pond Park, across the street from the courthouse, before setting himself on fire at about 1:30 p.m. Bystanders, court officials and police used jackets and fire extinguishers to put out the fire and help him, Maddrey said.
It appeared to happen around the time the jury for Trump’s trial was fully empaneled — with 12 jurors and six alternates selected for a trial expected to last about six weeks. It happened just before the court took a lunch break.
New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters that Azzarello was taken to the burn unit at Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was described as alive but in critical condition.
Four police officers and a court officer suffered minor injuries while battling the fire, Kavanagh said.
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Azzarello was born in 1987 and arrived in New York City earlier this week. He said family members contacted by police after the incident did not know Azzarello was in New York. Kenny said Azzarello’s pamphlets appeared to be “propaganda-based” about Ponzi schemes and conspiracy theories.
Police said they do not believe Azzarello targeted any specific person or group.
Law enforcement officials deployed a search team just in case, Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry said, and no devices were found in the area.
Three law enforcement sources previously told NBC News that the man appears to have been a believer in some conspiracy theories and may have had emotional problems. He may have posted his intention to set himself on fire in advance, the sources said.
Moments after setting himself on fire, the man lay burning on the ground. Sometimes he seemed to seize. Police tried to put out the fire with a small fire extinguisher, but were unsuccessful. While still on fire, the man tried to sit up. The police then used a large fire extinguisher to extinguish the fire.
A 73-year-old Upper West Side man, Dave, saw it happen. Dave said the person threw away a bundle of pamphlets, picked them up and threw them again.
“I heard this clang,” he said. “That caught our attention. Then he took out a can.”
David said he saw the man begin to dip himself in something before pulling out a lighter.
“That’s when I thought, this could be terrible,” he said. “I’m old enough to remember the Vietnam War.”
He said the person then set himself on fire and quickly burst into flames. The person made no sound as the people around him watched in shock.
Ed Quinn, a freelance photojournalist who lives in the East Village, said he was standing in court when, “I heard someone yell, ‘He’s going to set himself on fire.'”
“I see him very deliberately dumping gasoline in his face,” he said. “He had [a] gray t-shirt. It soaked his face. It soaked his shirt. Boom, he went up.”
Quinn said it took about a minute for police to arrive.
“Women begged, screamed, extinguished him,” he said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
