A man died after he burned himself outside the Manhattan court where former President Donald Trump‘s trial for hush-money is happening.
37-year-old Maxwell Azzarello poured liquid on himself and then threw conspiracy-theory papers into the air.
It happened after the jury was chosen for Mr. Trump’s trial was completed
He was really sick and had to go to the hospital on Friday. Sadly, he died later at the hospital. This was confirmed by CBS News, which is partners with the BBC in the US.
Donald Trump was at the building to pick people for the jury, and he had bodyguards with him. But he left while the trouble was happening.
The New York City police said on Saturday that Mr Azzarello was pronounced dead by hospital staff, according to NBC.
Security at the court was not broken during the incident on Friday, according to emergency officials. The trial, which had finished choosing the jury, started again in the afternoon. The first statements will start on Monday.
Investigators got a 911 call at 1:30 pm saying that a man set himself on fire.
They found out his name is Maxwell Azzarello, and he came to New York from Florida last week. He is 37 years old. He didn’t do anything wrong in New York, and his family in Florida didn’t know he went there.
New York Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said Mr Azzarello was seen walking around in the park and then taking out a flammable liquid and some pamphlets from a bag.
Chief Maddrey said that the pamphlets were spreading propaganda and conspiracy theories.
There were a lot of police outside the courthouse because of the trial, and they quickly ran into the park yelling for a fire extinguisher. Mr Azzarello was taken on a stretcher because his body was badly burned. The police said he was brought to a special hospital for burn injuries and he is in very bad condition.
Julie Berman told reporters: “It was really hot and didn’t make much sense. ” It all happened really quickly. It took me about 20 seconds to understand what was happening.
NYPD investigators picked up brochures that Mr. Azzarello had dropped before setting himself on fire. They have said that the area is safe.
The police are still talking to people who saw what happened. They said the person who set himself on fire didn’t seem to say anything before doing it.
Three police officers and one court officer got hurt a little while putting out the fire.
Authorities stated they will now review the safety measures outside the court.