As RedState’s Brittany Sheehan reported, a male lit himself on fire Friday outside the courthouse where Donald Trump’s criminal trial entered its fourth day. The man scattered leaflets before self-immolating.
See:
BREAKING: Man Self-Immolates Outside Trump Trial in Manhattan
On Friday afternoon, the NYPD gave updates on the horrific story. NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey explained how it went down:
We observed a male walking to the park. He walks to the center of the the park. When he’s in the park, he starts shuffling around his clothes. He opens up a book bag. From the book bag, he takes numerous pieces of papers, pamphlets, out. He throws the pamphlets throughout the park. And then he pulls out a canister and pours some kind of liquid on himself, a liquid, we believe is an accelerant. And he lights himself on fire.
The male, he takes a couple of steps while he’s on fire and then eventually falls onto a police barrier and falls down to the ground. He’s on fire. Another area in the park where some of the accelerant spilled is also on fire. Civilians court officers, members of the police department, they run into the park. They make efforts to put him out. They use their coats, they use fire extinguishers.
Watch:
“He throws the pamphlets throughout the park, and then he pulls out a canister and pours some kind of liquid on himself.”
— NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey describes the lead-up to a man setting himself on fire outside the Trump trial courthouse in Manhattan pic.twitter.com/ZgPreKdocd
— The Recount (@therecount) April 19, 2024
Maddrey continued:
Eventually FDNY responds, we’re able to put the male, extinguish the fire, from that point we will move him to Cornell burn unit where right now he’s there in critical condition.
Officials also revealed that the pamphlets the man was throwing around appeared to be propaganda and contained bizarre conspiracy theories:
NYPD says the man’s pamphlets seem to be ‘propaganda-based’ pic.twitter.com/Xxqbeza48P
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) April 19, 2024
The man has now been officially identified:
The individual, identified by the NYPD as Maxwell Azzarello, was captured lighting himself on fire about 30 feet from the courthouse on Friday afternoon.
Azzarello was reportedly moved to a burn unit where he remains in “critical condition,” NYPD officials said.
Officials described a manifesto that appears to be written by Azzarello where he wrote about researching a global “ponzi scheme.”
In the document published online before the incident, Azzarello also alleges a “totalitarian con” and apologized to “friends and family, witnesses and first responders” for “inflicting this pain upon you.”
RedState will keep you updated on this story.
