Man dies after setting himself on fire outside Donald Trump hush money trial
- Maxwell Azzarello was seen throwing pamphlets opposite the courthouse before dousing himself in an unspecified liquid
- The incident unfolded moments after the full panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was selected for the ex-US president’s unprecedented criminal trial
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A man has died after setting himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is standing trial.
The man burned for several minutes in full view of television cameras that were set up outside the court.
NBC News and other US media said early on Saturday that the man had died. NBC News quoted New York City police as saying the hospital where the man was taken had declared him dead.
Officials had said earlier the man, who was in his late 30s, was in critical condition.
Witnesses said the man pulled pamphlets out of a backpack and threw them in the air before he doused himself with an unspecified liquid and set himself on fire. One of those pamphlets included references to “evil billionaires” but portions that were visible to a Reuters witness did not mention Trump.
Police named the man as Maxwell Azzarello from St Augustine, Florida and said the pamphlets he sought to disseminate “seem to be propaganda-based”.
“[They were] almost like a conspiracy theory type of pamphlet, some information in regards to Ponzi schemes, and the fact that some of our local educational institutes are a front for the mob,” New York City Police Department chief of detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters.
Deputy police commissioner Tarik Sheppard said “we just right now labelled [him] a sort of conspiracy theorist, and we’re going from there”.
Burning clothes were strewn in the park, which was locked down by authorities, while ambulances lined up nearby on standby, an Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene saw, describing a strong smell of burning chemicals.
Trump complains jury selection moving too fast in hush money trial
Laura Kavanagh, the New York City fire commissioner, said four officers were lightly injured in the incident.
Video seemingly taken by witnesses and posted on social media showed a person standing engulfed in flames, then falling to the ground as police officers, including one with a fire extinguisher, rushed to beat out the blaze.
Television reporters described the incident unfolding moments after the full panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was selected for the trial of the former president in a hush money cover-up case.
A CNN reporter described a heavy stench of burning flesh in the aftermath of the blaze.
Trump declined to respond to questions about Azzarello as he returned to court after a break in the hearing.
The self-immolation happened in a park opposite the 100 Centre Street courthouse, which has been used by authorities to corral protesters, both pro-Trump and anti-Trump, as well as well as by some members of the media.
Trump hush money trial: 12 jurors picked, selection of alternates continues
Officers said they had swept the area and found no incendiary devices.
Trump’s criminal trial, the first of a former president, is being conducted amid tight security in a 15th floor courtroom swarming with Secret Service officers as well as court police.
Judge Juan Merchan has said that opening statements in Trump’s trial would start on Monday.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of business fraud as part of a plan to cover up hush money paid to a porn star so that the story would not come out just before the 2016 presidential election, in which he beat Hillary Clinton.
Additional reporting by Reuters
