Maxwell Azzarello, who set himself on fire outside the New York courthouse where former US President Donald Trump is on trial, is dead.
According to Sky’s US partner NBC News, Azzarello was “declared deceased by hospital staff”, police disclosed in a phone call early on Saturday.
Mr Azzarello, in his mid-30s, from St Augustine in Florida, threw conspiracy theory pamphlets in the air before setting himself ablaze in a designated protest area for pro and anti-Trump demonstrators on Friday.He took a canister out of his bag containing what is believed to have been an alcohol-based accelerant, before dousing himself in the fluid and setting himself ablaze, police said.
Officers and civilians ran into the protest area and tried to put out the flames using coats and fire extinguishers.
New York City fire commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters that Azzarello was taken to the burn unit at Weill Cornell Medical Centre, where he had been described as alive but in critical condition.
Four NYPD police officers suffered minor injuries from fire exposure, authorities said
The video shared on social media shows Mr Azzarello lying on his back on the pavement outside the courthouse while the lower part of his body is on fire.
Another man sprays him with a fire extinguisher which appears to put the fire out.
Police officers are seen running over to the scene as the fire is extinguished.
Ed Quinn, a freelance photojournalist who was outside the court at the time, told NBC News: “I heard someone scream ‘He’s going to light himself on fire!’.’
“I see him dumping gasoline on his face, very deliberately.
“He had a grey T-shirt on. It soaked his face. It soaked his shirt. Boom, he went up.”
Mr Quinn said it took the police about a minute to arrive.
He added that “Women were begging, screaming, put it out, put him out.”
Azzarello had no specific target – police
Mr Kenny said Azzarello was born in 1987 and arrived in New York City earlier in the week, NBC reported.
According to him, the police were in contact with members of his family after the incident but they were unaware that he was in the city.
The Police said they don’t believe Azzarello was targeting any particular person or group.
HOBNOB NEWS
