WATCH: Man Sets Himself on Fire Outside New York Courthouse Where Donald Trump Is on Trial
Police said Azzarello was being treated for "critical" injuries at a local burn center.
April 19 2024, Published 2:38 p.m. ET
A man set himself on fire outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial for the alleged falsification of business records, RadarOnline.com can report.
The shocking incident unfolded on Friday afternoon as ex-President Trump appeared in court for day four of his criminal hush money trial.
CNN’s Laura Coates was mid-broadcast when the unidentified man lit himself on fire. She quickly turned her attention to the shocking development and confirmed that a man had lit himself aflame.
“There is a man racing to aid. There are coats coming off, trying to put out the fire, we have members of security details, NYPD is rushing to the scene,” Coates reported in a panic.
According to CNN, the man “walked into the park across the street from the courthouse” and started “throwing flyers into the air” shortly before he doused himself and lit himself on fire.
“The man walked into the park across the street from the courthouse, throwing flyers into the air,” a senior law enforcement official reportedly told the outlet. “He then pulled something out of a backpack — it was not immediately what the item was — and lit himself on fire.”
It is currently unclear why the man lit himself on fire outside the courthouse where ex-President Trump is on trial.
The shocking incident unfolded on Friday afternoon outside Donald Trump's hush money trial.
Another senior law enforcement official reportedly told the outlet that “investigators fanned out to collect the flyers the unknown man threw into the air.”
One of the flyers reportedly said that "NYU is a mob front" and included “various allegations of wrongdoings” against the university.
At least one person reportedly used a fire extinguisher to try to put out the blaze while a nearby EMT rushed up and tried to aid the man on fire.
Meanwhile, several viewers rushed to social media after the shocking incident unfolded outside the Manhattan courthouse on Friday afternoon.
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Max Azzarello, the man who set himself on fire outside Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York, wrote in a manifesto that it was an "extreme act of protest."
“Did anybody else just hear about the guy who set himself on fire outside of the NY courtroom?!” one person tweeted shortly after the fire was brought under control. “Holy smokes!”
“Was watching the news and then it felt like a movie…unreal,” the user added. “Be safe out there!”
“I was watching it live on CNN,” another distraught viewer wrote. “I’m still shaking!”
The victim has since been identified as a man named Max Azzerello, according to Newsweek.
Azzerello reportedly held up a sign shortly before the incident that included a link to a website that contained a manifesto titled: "I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial."
Witnesses said Azzerello had been handing out flyers before he went up in flames.
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"My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan," the manifesto read.
"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."
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