Man dies after setting himself on fireplace outdoors courthouse the place Trump trial is being held
Max Azzarello’s mug shot from August 21, 2023.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Division
A person who set himself on fireplace Friday outdoors the courthouse the place former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial is going down has died, New York Metropolis police mentioned early Saturday.
The person, whom police recognized as Maxwell Azzarello of St. Augustine, Florida, was within the designated protest space outdoors.
No time of dying was given by police. He was declared deceased by workers on the hospital the place he had been taken, the NYPD mentioned.
NYPD Chief of Division Jeffrey B. Maddrey informed reporters that Azzarello walked into the middle of the park, shuffled round his garments, opened a backpack and took out and threw quite a few pamphlets on the bottom. He then pulled out a canister, poured a liquid accelerant on himself, lit himself on fireplace, fell on a police barrier after which fell to the bottom.
Police mentioned the person entered Accumulate Pond Park, throughout the road from the courthouse, at round 1:30 p.m. earlier than setting himself on fireplace. Bystanders, courtroom officers and police used coats and fireplace extinguishers to attempt to put out the fireplace and assist him, Maddrey mentioned.
It appeared to occur across the time that the jury for Trump’s trial was absolutely empaneled — with 12 jurors and 6 alternates chosen to take a seat for a trial that is anticipated to final about six weeks. It occurred simply earlier than the courtroom took a lunch break.
New York Metropolis Fireplace Commissioner Laura Kavanagh informed reporters that Azzarello was taken to the burn unit at Weill Cornell Medical Heart, the place he had been described as alive however in important situation.
4 law enforcement officials and one courtroom officer sustained minor accidents from coping with the fireplace, Kavanagh mentioned.
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny mentioned Azzarello was born in 1987 and arrived in New York Metropolis earlier within the week. He mentioned that relations police had been in touch with after the incident had been unaware that Azzarello was in New York. Kenny mentioned Azzarello’s pamphlets appeared to be “propaganda-based” about Ponzi schemes and conspiracy theories.
Police mentioned they do not imagine Azzarello was concentrating on any specific particular person or group.
Regulation enforcement deployed a bomb squad search workforce simply in case, Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry mentioned, and no gadgets had been discovered within the space.
Fireplace extinguishers (R) are left on the park throughout from Manhattan Prison Court docket in New York Metropolis after a person reportedly set himself on fireplace through the trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump, in New York Metropolis on April 19, 2024.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Photos
Three regulation enforcement sources informed NBC Information earlier that the person seems to have been a follower of some conspiracy theories and should have had emotional points. He could have posted his intention to set himself on fireplace prematurely, the sources mentioned.
Moments after setting himself on fireplace, the person was mendacity on the bottom, burning. At instances, he appeared to grab. Police tried to make use of a small fireplace extinguisher to place the fireplace out, however had been unsuccessful. Whereas nonetheless on fireplace, the person tried to take a seat up. Police then used a big extinguisher to place out the fireplace.
A 73-year-old man from the Higher West Facet, Dave, watched it occur. Dave mentioned the particular person threw up a bundle of pamphlets, picked them up and threw them once more.
“I heard this clattering,” he mentioned. “That caught our consideration. Then he pulled out a can.”
David mentioned he noticed the person start to douse himself in one thing earlier than taking out a lighter.
“There I believed, this may very well be terrible,” he mentioned. “I am sufficiently old to recollect the Vietnam Warfare.”
He mentioned the particular person then set himself alight and was shortly engulfed in flames. The particular person did not make a sound as folks round him regarded on, horrified.
Ed Quinn, a contract photojournalist who lives within the East Village, mentioned he was dealing with the courtroom when: “I heard somebody scream, ‘He’ll mild himself on fireplace.'”
“I see him dumping gasoline on his face, very intentionally,” he mentioned. “He had [a] grey t-shirt on. It soaked his face. It soaked his shirt. Increase, he went up.”
Quinn mentioned it took the police a couple of minute to reach.
“Girls had been begging, screaming, put it out, put him out,” he mentioned.
