A man set himself on fire outside of former president Donald Trump’s trial in New York City. Nearby media outlets caught the disturbing scene on camera, in which his body can be seen engulfed in flames, with a nearby reporter urging for a fire extinguisher.

One person attempted to pat down the fire with his jacket, until another arrived with the fire extinguisher. A witness told PIX11 News they were standing next to the man when he began pouring a flammable liquid on himself. The witness claims that the man made political statements before starting the fire. EMTs from the New York Fire Department took the man into an ambulance on a gurney.

A Substack post, purportedly from the man, has started making the rounds on Twitter. Its author identifies himself as Max Azzarello and rants about Peter Thiel and a Ponzi scheme. A law enforcement source confirmed the man’s identity to the New York Times.

In the same timeframe, after days of back and forth, a full jury panel was finally selected to hear the controversial “hush money” case. Around 500 jurors were initially evaluated, with less than a fifth of them receiving an invitation to the courtroom. Of those, more than half were later dismissed, as finding a particularly impartial crowd in Trump-friendly Manhattan proved difficult.

The heated discourse around the merits of the case, with accusations of political persecution thrown around by the embattled presidential candidate, has heightened political tensions and led the courthouse to be the focus of national and global media.

In late February, an active-duty airman called Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in DC. With Bushnell being recorded shouting “Free Palestine,” the reasoning was clearer.