A horrific video of a man setting himself on fire was captured on tape by cameras positioned outside the Manhattan courtroom where former President Donald Trump was on trial on Friday, April 19, 2024.
As stated by NDTV World, “The man, identified as Max Azzarello, who had travelled to New York from Florida, died after being in a critical condition after the incident.”
Authorities said that shortly after 1:30 p.m., a man in his late 30s from St. Augustine, Florida, Max Azzarello, strolled into the public park across the street from the 100 Centre Street courtroom. This was shortly after the jury was chosen in the historic case.
After entering the park—which was cordoned off for Trump’s trial—Azzarello removed his jacket, pulled a canister containing what seemed to be an accelerant based on alcohol out of his luggage, doused himself in the liquid, and lit himself on fire.
William Schoeffler, 25, a bystander, cried out, “Police, police, there’s a guy lighting himself on fire,” as Azzarello doused himself with accelerant.
“Fire! Police! Police! The footage acquired by The New York Post shows Schoeffler exclaiming, “Holy sh-t, holy sh-t,” as other witnesses started screaming for help as flames immediately started to explode. As reported by the New York Post, “Azzarello took off his jacket, dumped what cops believe was an alcohol-based cleaning accelerant over himself — and then lit himself up.”
According to NYPD Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey, officers and civilians went into the protest area and tried to put out the fires with jackets and fire extinguishers.
According to police, four officers were exposed to flames and had minor injuries.
For several minutes, Azzarello’s scorched body twitched on the ground, entirely consumed by flames while frightened bystanders yelled in the background.
“It occurred quickly. A witness who only wanted to be named as Dave told The Post, “He was up in flames and seemed determined.”
Coates, an anchor and top legal commentator for CNN, remarked, “You can smell burning flesh,” as she and correspondent Evan Perez were on the scene.
Vossoughian described how horrifying it was to see his body inside the flames. His knees struck the earth first as he fell to the ground.
First responders took the badly burnt Azzarello to the burns unit of Cornell University Hospital in an ambulance, where he was kept that Friday afternoon in serious condition, according to the police.
Azzarello was declared dead early on Saturday due to the serious burns he suffered.
Several news organisations, including The Associated Press, were live streaming from outside the courtroom when the incident occurred, and correspondents from CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC were discussing the seating of a jury.
The AP set up a camera with an unsynchronized live feed outside the courthouse, which was broadcast on YouTube and the APNews.com website. The cameras captured a wide range of footage, including the man lighting himself on fire and then struggling on the ground as a police officer attempted to put out the flames with his jacket.
The AP later took the live feed off its YouTube channel and switched to a new feed because of the graphic content.
The news agency sent carefully edited clips to video clients — not including the moment the man set himself on fire, executive producer Tom Williams said.
This incident was a test of how quickly networks could respond, and how quickly they could decide what was too upsetting for their viewers.
A few seconds before he set himself on fire, Azzarello reached into his book bag and tossed out a stack of brightly colored pamphlets into the air.
The pamphlets appear to be pro-Ponzi schemes, conspiracy theories, and information about local educational institutions that are fronts for organized crime, according to New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
A CNN crew on the ground saw one of these flyers, which read “NYU is a mafia front” and included numerous claims of wrongdoing against the university.
Some of the flyers linked to a Substack website with the headline “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump trial.” The website featured a 2,600-word manifesto by the self-proclaimed “investigative researcher” outlining his theories. In his manifesto, he wrote that;
“My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan. This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
“This is an act of revolution because these words are true,” he said in his final statement before expressing regret to his loved ones and close friends for going to such extreme lengths.
Though Mr. Azzarello was seen holding a sign saying, “Trump is with Biden and they’re about to fascist coup us,” outside the same courthouse a few days before his self-immolation, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny stated that authorities have not yet established whether the incident was connected to Trump’s trial.