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A man has reportedly set himself on fire outside the courthouse in New York where former US President Donald Trump is on trial.
A press conference given by the New York Police Department named the man as Maxwell Azzarello from St Augustine, Florida.
Azzarello, who was born in 1987, arrived in New York this week, and officers said family members they spoke to were unaware of his being in the city.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said he is in a critical condition in a hospital burns centre.
Police said he took out a canister before dousing himself an accelerant and hurling coloured pamphlets promoting conspiracy theories in the air in Collect Pond Park, across from the courthouse.
The “conspiracy based” pamphlets made claims about New York higher education institutions being “a part of the mob” and Ponzi schemes.
The press conference also heard that he posted about the incident on social media before carrying it out.
Members of the public and police officers battled to extinguish the flames as they engulfed Mr Azzarello, using coats to try to douse the inferno.
Jeffrey Maddrey, the Chief of Department for the NYPD told reporters: “When he’s in the park, he starts shuffling around his clothes.
“From the book bag, he takes numerous pieces of papers pamphlets out, he throws the pamphlets throughout the park.
“Then he pulls out a canister and pours some kind of liquid on himself. A liquid we believe is an accelerant and he lights himself on fire.
“The man takes a couple of steps while he’s on fire and eventually falls on to a police barrier and falls down to the ground. He’s on fire.
“Civilians, court officers, members of the police department, they run into the park. They make efforts to put him out they use their coats, they use fire extinguishers.”
Police officers rushed to the scene and the man was taken into an ambulance on a stretcher and driven away.
Three police officers and a court officer suffered minor injuries in responding to the fire.
Members of the public and police officers battled to extinguish the flames as they engulfed the man, using coats to try to douse the inferno.
It comes after jury selection for Trump’s hush money trial concluded with 12 people and six alternatives chosen for the trial on whether the former president covered up payments to women who alleged they had affairs with him.
The incident began while CNN was broadcasting live outside the court, with anchor Laura Coates telling viewers she could “smell burning flash”.
“I see a totally charred human being,” Coates said on CNN, also noting that the man was still moving whilst he was on fire.
Someone on the scene reportedly shouted “don’t do it” before the man set himself on fire, according to a BBC reporter who was there.
The New York Times reports that the heat of the flames of the burning man could be felt a hundred feet away.
A witness told Reuters that he first heard the man throwing pamphlets into the air, then saw him douse himself from a can and light himself on fire.
“At that point, I said, ‘Oh shoot, what am I going to see?’” the witness, called Dave who declined to give his last name, told Reuters.
Footage shows Azzarello, who was born in 1987, lying on his back on the pavement while the lower part of his body is on fire.
He is then sprayed with a fire extinguisher by another man which appears to put the fire out.
Images of the pamphlets thrown and lying on the ground describe a goal of “abolish our criminal government and replace it with one that serves all.”
The fire was extinguished on Friday shortly after a jury and alternatives had been seated in the case.
The motive behind the man’s actions is unknown and he is in a critical condition in hospital, the New York Police Department has said.
Donald Trump’s campaign released a statement offering its “condolences to the traumatised witnesses” after the blaze.
Karoline Leavitt, the national secretary for his campaign, said: “Not knowing the motivations behind this sickening situation, it’s difficult to make any definitive remarks, other than to say we are thankful that to the best of our present knowledge, nobody other than the individual in question was hurt.”
She added: “Today is more proof that our nation is in deep trouble… Make America Great Again.”
This story is being updated.
