A man self-immolated Friday afternoon near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where jurors were being selected for former President Donald J. Trump's criminal trial.
The man remained outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse earlier this week when he drugged him at Collect Pond Park, across the street from the building, around 1:35 p.m. Onlookers screamed and started running, and soon bright orange flames engulfed the man. He threw leaflets into the air supporting anti-government conspiracy theories and then self-immolated.
People rushed to put out the fire, but the intensity of the heat was felt hundreds of feet away.
Several minutes later, dozens of police officers arrived and extinguished the fire. The man was loaded into an ambulance and sped away. The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition, according to the New York City Fire Department.
A senior law enforcement official identified the man as Max Azzarello, 37, of St. Augustine, Florida. Officials requested anonymity because the man has not been publicly identified. Mr Azzarello appeared outside the courthouse on Thursday holding a sign displaying the address of the website where the same pamphlet had been uploaded. “I attempted self-immolation outside the Trump trial,” the top post on the website reads.
On Thursday, Mr. Azzarello held up various placards in the park and at one point shouted to the assembled reporters: “I got the biggest scoop of my life, or give me my money back!” One of his signs was that Trump and President Biden were “trying to stage a fascist coup against us.”
In an interview that day, he said his critical views on the U.S. government are based on the relationship between Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire, political provocateur, and major campaign donor, and cryptocurrencies. He said it was formed through research.
Azzarello said he had planned to protest in Washington Square Park, near New York University, but thought the cold weather would cause more people to gather outside the courthouse.
“President Trump is working on that, too,” Azzarello said Thursday. “This is covert kleptocracy and will only lead to an apocalyptic fascist coup.”
People who witnessed the fire said they watched in disbelief as Azzarello, who was in an area designated for Trump supporters in the park, threw a pamphlet into the air and watched as flames shot skyward. Azzarello, who was wearing jeans and a dark gray T-shirt, fell to the ground amidst the fire.
Some of the pamphlets called New York University a “front for the mob,” and others about former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore, and Gore's representatives during the 2000 presidential recount. Some also mentioned the lawyer who served on the case, David Boies. Other pamphlets contained anti-government conspiracy theories, but they did not have a clear political orientation.
Al Baker, a court system spokesman, said one court employee was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but the trial schedule was not affected.
Fred Gates, 60, said he was riding his bike through the park when he stopped to watch Trump supporters and saw Azzarello try to start a fire. Gates thought it was a prank or a performance until he saw the flames, he said.
Another witness, civil rights attorney Gideon Oliver, said he saw smoke billowing from the park and court officials rushing out of the building with fire extinguishers.
“When I saw and smelled the smoke, I thought someone, who I thought was one of the pro-Trump protesters, had started a fire in the park,” Oliver said. “I saw police officers and court staff running and thought it might have been a bomb.”
Mr. Azzarello poured himself an accelerant and stood tall, holding the flame at chest level. As those closest to him ran away, others screamed as they realized what he was about to do.
The flames consumed him and he slowly collapsed.
wesley parnell, Alan Feuer and Chelsia Rose Marcius Contributed to the report.
