The man who set himself on fire across the street from the Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial has died. Max Azzarello, 37, was pronounced dead at a city hospital early Saturday, according to police. The act of self-immolation was not directly related to the trial: He wrote in paranoid manifesto that he took his own life to bring attention to a set of conspiratorial beliefs. Below are live updates on this developing story.
Max Azzarello succumbed to his extensive injuries while being treated at Weill Cornell Medicine’s burn unit, police confirmed overnight.
According to the New York Times, people who know Azzarello say he seemed to have succumbed to paranoid thoughts in recent years, particularly after losing his mother to an illness in 2022:
A closer look at the path the man had traveled to this moment of self-destruction revealed a recent spiral into volatility, one marked by a worldview that had become increasingly confusing and disjointed — and appeared to be unattached to any political party. His social media postings and arrest records suggest the immolation stemmed instead from a place of conspiracy theories and paranoia.
Read the rest of their report here.
From the Times’ report on the self-immolation:
At the park on Thursday, Mr. Azzarello had held up various signs and at one point shouted toward a group of reporters gathered there: “Biggest scoop of your life or your money back!” One of his signs claimed that Mr. Trump and President Biden were “about to fascist coup us.”
In an interview that day, he said his critical views of the American government were shaped by his research into Peter Thiel, the technology billionaire and political provocateur who is a major campaign donor, and into cryptocurrency.
Mr. Azzarello said he had planned to protest at Washington Square Park near New York University but thought that with the cold weather, more people would be outside the courthouse.
“Trump’s in on it,” Mr. Azzarello said on Thursday. “It’s a secret kleptocracy, and it can only lead to an apocalyptic fascist coup.” …
Some of the pamphlets [Azzarello threw in the air before setting himself ablaze on Friday] referred to New York University as a “mob front” and also mentioned former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount. Another pamphlet contained anti-government conspiracy theories, though they did not point in a discernible political direction.
Authorities gave their initial version of events during a 3 p.m. press conference. NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey said 37-year-old Max Azzarello entered a small park at 100 Centre Street surrounded by police barricades at 1:30 p.m. He was then observed rustling through a backpack, grabbing several pamphlets, and scattering them throughout the park. Then he reached for a canister containing some form of alcohol-based accelerant, poured it over himself, and lit himself on fire. “Civilians, court officers, members of the police department, they run into the park. They make efforts to put him out. They used their coats, they used fire extinguishers,” Maddrey said.
Azzarello was rushed to Cornell Burn Center, where he remains in critical condition. Authorities said he is considered likely to survive.
Despite its close proximity to the courthouse, the park has remained open to the public. “This gentleman did not breach security protocols. The park was open to the public.” Maddrey said. “But, of course we’re going to look at everything and, with the magnitude of what’s going on right here, we’ll reassess our security with our federal partners.”
An eyewitness captured most of the incident in a video, embedded below, which is extremely graphic. The eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, screamed out for police as they watched the man pour accelerant on himself. The man then pulled a lighter from his right pocket and ignited the accelerant, sending a tower of flame toward the sky before he staggered forward several steps and fell to the ground. Police and court officers rushed into the park, working desperately to extinguish the flames.
Per the New York Times:
Al Baker, a spokesman for the court system, says the trial schedule would not be affected by the man setting himself on fire. He said a court officer was taken to the hospital because of the effects of smoke inhalation. He also said Justice Merchan expressed concern for the individual. “The entire court is impacted by this,” he said.
The man who set himself on fire was identified by law-enforcement sources in the press as Max Azzarello, 37, of St. Augustine, Florida. Approximately five minutes before the fire, a post was published to Substack by a man of the same name, saying he had set himself on fire outside the Trump trial. The manifesto states that he did so “to draw attention” to what is essentially an incoherent set of conspiratorial beliefs that the U.S. government and world economy are near collapse and that cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme designed to help take it all down.
According to the FDNY, the man survived the fire and was transported to the burn center at NewYork–Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.
One eyewitness said he told her to stand back before he ignited himself:
Another reporter adds a word of caution:
It’s not yet clear what the multicolored pamphlets say.
Judge Juan Merchan was wrapping up proceedings for the day and he announced a long lunch break. As that was happening, reporters started to see the news on social media and then everyone raced down to the street. Security was yelling “no running in the court house.” When reporters got outside, wind was blowing ash in the direction of the court. It smells horrific and feels still hot. Police officers are standing around frozen with shell-shocked looks.
It’s not yet clear who the person was or why they may have done this — or if they survived. The fire happened in Collect Pond Park, which is across the street from the courthouse. Please be warned, the video is graphic:
CNN was broadcasting live nearby, and when the cameras panned away from the graphic scene, reporter Laura Coates described what she was seeing live, instead:
She later described being overwhelmed what she saw:
If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 for free, anonymous support and resources.
This post has been updated throughout. Correction: A previous version of this story said the man had wrapped himself in an American flag, according to a witness. He did not.
