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
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”.