A young man set himself on fire Friday afternoon near a lower Manhattan courthouse where jurors were being selected for former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial.

According to police, the man doused himself with accelerant at Collect Pond across from the courthouse around 1:35 p.m. New York Times.

The man was soon covered in bright orange flames as onlookers shouted and fled. It’s unclear why he did this.

People scrambled to try to put out the blaze, even as the heat wave could be felt hundreds of feet away.

Moments later, dozens of police officers arrived and tried to put out the fire. The man appeared to be alive and they rushed him away in an ambulance.

According to an unnamed witness, the man threw leaflets into the air before setting himself on fire. The man fell to the ground, his dark gray T-shirt and jeans falling to the floor. He was in an area of ​​the park reserved for Trump fans.

Some of the fliers mentioned former Vice President Al Gore, former President George W. Bush and attorney David Boyce, who defended Gore during the 2000 presidential recount.

The man stood tall as he poured the accelerant over himself, then held the flame to chest height. When others realized what he was going to do, they shouted and those near him fled.

The air filled with the screams and shouts of people as the flames engulfed him and he slowly fell. His condition remained unclear following the incident.