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Things are gettin' weird in DC ...
In a bizarre act that capped a nervous few days in Congress, a man poured gasoline on himself and lit himself on fire on the National Mall late Friday afternoon.
Flames and smoke from the self-immolating man near 7th Street and Jefferson Drive, SW, were visible from the Capitol, where some staffers watched the scene from west facing windows, just a day after a car chase that ended with the shooting death of a woman just outside the Hart Senate Office Building.
The incident happened at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday in between the Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery. Passing joggers rushed to the man's aid, several taking off their shirts to help beat out the flames that burned 80% of his body, ABC reports.
The man was evacuated by a U.S. Park Police helicopter that landed on the Mall.
Fire department spokesman Tim Wilson said the man suffered life-threatening injuries, but was conscious and breathing at the scene.
Katy Scheflen, a furloughed civil rights attorney in the Justice Department, said she stopped because she saw "a guy with a tripod set up."
Scheflen said another man, who she thought the tripod with a camera was filming, then took a red can of gasoline, poured it over his head.
"At that point we didn't know what was going, maybe it was some sort of stage protest," Scheflen said. "And then he set himself on fire and went up in flames," she said. "Whoosh."
Scheflen said the presence of a mounted camera gave her the impression "he was aware something was about to happen. Otherwise he was filming nothing but a guy standing there."
"It was obviously an intentional act, "She said. Somebody has a video of the whole thing."
www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-sets-fire-national-mall-report-article-1.1476755#ixzz2gnTn1Ydv
In a bizarre act that capped a nervous few days in Congress, a man poured gasoline on himself and lit himself on fire on the National Mall late Friday afternoon.
Flames and smoke from the self-immolating man near 7th Street and Jefferson Drive, SW, were visible from the Capitol, where some staffers watched the scene from west facing windows, just a day after a car chase that ended with the shooting death of a woman just outside the Hart Senate Office Building.
The incident happened at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday in between the Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery. Passing joggers rushed to the man's aid, several taking off their shirts to help beat out the flames that burned 80% of his body, ABC reports.
The man was evacuated by a U.S. Park Police helicopter that landed on the Mall.
Fire department spokesman Tim Wilson said the man suffered life-threatening injuries, but was conscious and breathing at the scene.
Katy Scheflen, a furloughed civil rights attorney in the Justice Department, said she stopped because she saw "a guy with a tripod set up."
Scheflen said another man, who she thought the tripod with a camera was filming, then took a red can of gasoline, poured it over his head.
"At that point we didn't know what was going, maybe it was some sort of stage protest," Scheflen said. "And then he set himself on fire and went up in flames," she said. "Whoosh."
Scheflen said the presence of a mounted camera gave her the impression "he was aware something was about to happen. Otherwise he was filming nothing but a guy standing there."
"It was obviously an intentional act, "She said. Somebody has a video of the whole thing."
www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-sets-fire-national-mall-report-article-1.1476755#ixzz2gnTn1Ydv
Seriously, Really?