Max Azzarello: Florida man dies after he sets himself ablaze outside Donald Trump's hush money trial courthouse in NYC

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

Update: After being taken to hospital on Friday, April 19, Max Azzarello succumbed to severe burns. 

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MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: In a shocking incident, a 37-year-old man identified as Max Azzarello, set himself on fire outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse where the criminal trial of former President Donald J Trump was underway.

The incident occurred on Friday, April 19 afternoon in Collect Pond Park, directly across from the courthouse. He is from St Augustine, Florida. 

Max Azzarello set himself ablaze in broad daylight

Azzarello doused himself with an accelerant at around 1.35 pm, causing panic as onlookers screamed and fled from the horrifying scene, reported the police.

Disturbing footage showed him seated, fully ablaze, then his charred body twitching on the ground as people rushed over with fire extinguishers and used coats to try and put out the fire that engulfed him.

Witnesses noted that he suddenly threw his belongings on the ground before setting himself on fire. 

Max Azzarello had a 2,648-word manifesto

Flyers left at the scene led to a Substack page titled: “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial," as noted by the New York Post.

"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 site read from the 2648-word manifesto.

"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," it read further.

Max Azzarello was 'critical condition' 

Police said that Azzarello was in critical condition. He was transported to New York–Presbyterian Hospital.

The New York City Police Department told BBC News that their “investigation is ongoing” into the fire incident outside the Manhattan courthouse.

A police spokeswoman confirmed to the publication that the man who lit himself on fire was taken to hospital in “critical condition,” and added that there were “no additional safety concerns at this time.”

In a press conference, police said Azzarello arrived in New York earlier this week, adding that his family was unaware he had traveled to New York.

Police have also stated that he did not break the security as the park where the incident took place was open to the public, and he was not targeting any people or any particular groups when he lit himself on fire.