Max Azzarello, a 37-year-old man from Florida, died of severe burns on Friday after he set himself on fire outside a New York courthouse as former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial was about to begin. Azzarillo’s life has been marked by controversy. He was arrested in three cases and served 180 days of probation before being released last year.

Azzarillo threw a stack of pamphlets into the air before pouring fuel over himself and setting himself on fire in front of horrified witnesses outside the courthouse on Friday.

After the incident, police transported Azzarillo by ambulance to the burn unit of a nearby hospital. The man was in critical condition and died from his injuries some time later, police said.

The 37-year-old traveled to New York City from Florida without his family’s knowledge and protested in front of the courthouse, lashing out at Democratic and Republican leaders, the New York Post reported.

He is active on social media and calls himself an “investigative researcher.” However, his constant rants and controversial posts earned him the nickname “Conspiracy Theorist.”

Before setting himself on fire, Azzarillo wrote a 2,700-word manifesto on Substack, an American email communication platform, saying, “My name is Max Azzarillo, an investigative researcher who set himself on fire outside the Trump trial in Manhattan. “”.

“This extreme act of protest is an attempt to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian hoax, and our own government (and many of their allies) are about to use an apocalyptic fascist A world coup is coming to hit us,” he said.

Azzarillo was suicidal and unemployed, according to police records.

Criminal case

Azzarillo’s troubles began on August 19, 2023, when he was arrested for throwing a glass of wine at former President Bill Clinton’s autograph, which was framed and hung in his hometown of St. Louis, Florida. A wall in the lobby of the Augustinian Casa Monica Hotel.

On August 21, he was arrested again for stripping naked outside the Casa Monica hotel and yelling at patrons. An officer saw him allegedly entering the fountain at a nearby property and shouting at people “in an intimidating manner”. He was taken into custody, the New York Post reported.

But his outburst wasn’t quite over. Three days later, on Aug. 24, security cameras captured Azzarillo writing on a small sign and then vandalizing a pest control sign next door, the police report said.

The defaced sign warned people that the yard had been treated and that children and pets should stay away, police reports said.

“Azarillo misinterpreted the sign and informed me that the pest control company’s purpose was to eliminate children and dogs,” an officer wrote in the report.

He was sentenced to 180 days of probation and remained in the St. Johns County Jail until October 3 of last year.

social media rant

About four months ago, Azzarillo posted on his Instagram that he had been “protesting and breaking the unwritten rules of St. Augustine, mocking police, embracing the homeless, celebrating freedom from cults, and pleading Anyone and everyone join me”. liberation”.

While his online profile describes him as an “investigative researcher,” the nature of his posts has been so controversial and disturbing that he has been called a “conspiracy theorist.”

Witnesses recall self-immolation incident

A witness spoke to Azzarillo outside the New York courthouse and recalled seeing the man set himself on fire minutes later.

“He just stood there and a minute later he fell to the ground. By the time the police got there, all the fuel had been burned off of him and you could see his skin,” said the 25-year-old rookie. up founder Wilhelm Schaeffler.

“He didn’t make much noise, he was very quiet. Very scary,” he added.