Author Topic: More Chaos in Washington: Man Reportedly Sets Himself on Fire at National Mall  (Read 3126 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline happyg

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11,820
  • Gender: Female
Several reports and eyewitness accounts indicate that a man set himself on fire at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Friday afternoon.

Fire Department spokesman Timothy J. Wilson told the Washington Post that the man was transported to the hospital with “life threatening injuries.” Officials weren’t positive what started the fire, though some witnesses claim they saw the man light himself on fire.

The news quickly circulated on Twitter with some claiming to have seen the man “dancing” down the National Mall while engulfed in flames.



A U.S. Park Police helicopter transported the man to a hospital, Reuters’ Myles Miller reported.

“The man apparently burned himself as an act of protest,” the reporter wrote on Twitter
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/04/more-chaos-in-washington-man-reportedly-sets-himself-on-fire-at-national-mall/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=ShareButtons

Offline mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,125
Man sets self on fire on National Mall
By Associated Press
October 4, 2013 | 5:26pm


WASHINGTON — A man set himself on fire on the National Mall in the nation’s capital as passers-by rushed over to help put out the flames, officials and witnesses said Friday afternoon.

The reason for the self-immolation was not immediately clear and the man’s identity was not disclosed. But it occurred in public view, on a central national gathering place, in a city still rattled by a mass shooting last month and a high-speed car chase outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday that ended with a woman being shot dead by police with a young child in the car.

The man on the Mall suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to the hospital, said District of Columbia fire department spokesman Tim Wilson.

He was standing by himself in the center portion of the Mall when he emptied the contents of a red gasoline can on himself and set himself on fire moments later, said Katy Scheflen, who witnessed it as she walked across the area. Police say they responded around 4:20 p.m. Friday.

Scheflen said the man was clearly alive as the fire spread, and passing joggers took off their shirts in an effort to help put out the flames. It was not clear who actually extinguished the flames.

A police department spokesman said the man was conscious and breathing at the scene. MedStar Washington Hospital Center tweeted that the man was taken there and he was in critical condition Friday night.

“There was not a lot people could do because it was a gasoline fire,” Scheflen said.

She said he may have said something before he acted “but it was nothing intelligible.” She said she did not see him holding any signs before he set himself ablaze.

She said there was another man with a tripod set up near him, but it’s unclear if the man was filming the incident.

Lt. Pamela Smith of the U.S. Park Police, which is investigating along with the D.C. police department, said: “I’m not aware of any signage or any articulation of any causes.”

The D.C. police department has dispatched its violent crimes branch, which responds to cases in which a person suffers serious injury.

Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline DCPatriot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,802
  • Gender: Male
  • "...and the winning number is...not yours!
I was wondering just how long we'd have to wait until somebody did exactly this.....

Recall vividly the monks that self immolated during the Viet Nam War.

A person left with no hope for the future...nobody to turn to...is a dangerous person not only to others, but themselves too.
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,125
WashPost:
Quote
Man sets himself on fire on the Mall
By Justin Jouvenal and Mark Berman,   Published: October 4

 A man was critically injured when he poured gasoline over his body and set himself on fire as he stood in the center of the Mall on Friday, according to police and a witness.

Authorities did not immediately identify the man or say what may have motivated him. He was standing near Seventh Street and Jefferson Drive about 4:30 p.m when he picked up a brightly colored gasoline canister and doused himself, said Katy Scheflen, a furloughed Justice Department worker who was nearby.
 
“It didn’t look real,” Scheflen said. “It looked like it would happen in a movie. That’s how fast he went up in flames.”

Scheflen said a jogger running by ripped off his shirt and tried to smother the flames. Soon, others in the area did the same thing. Authorities credited their actions with helping save the man, who was airlifted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Meghan Van Heertum, a tourist from Wisconsin, was walking on the Mall when the incident unfolded. “I saw cops fly up from all directions,” Van Heertum said.

She said she saw one of the officers kick something that was on fire, near the man who was lying on the ground at that point. Van Heertum said she saw flames rising a couple of feet off the ground near the man.

She said the air “smelled strongly of burning flesh.”

U.S. Park Police officers found the man engulfed in flames when they arrived, said Maj. Patrick Smith. He said the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

“I did not see flames on him, but his face and his arms were charred, and the ground nearby was in flames,” said Nicole Didyk of the District, who was jogging on the Mall when she saw the incident.

Didyk said she spoke to one of the men who helped the injured man. After the flames were extinguished, Didyk was told, the man thanked the people who came to his aid.

There appeared to be a red gas can, a yellow tarp and crumpled newspapers near the scene, in the center of the Mall.

Police had cordoned off a large swath around the area, and dozens of police vehicles were nearby.

D.C. police spokeswoman Saray Leon said the man was “conscious and breathing” when firefighters responded.

In a testament to the strange and chaotic week it had been in Washington, a group of tourists snapped photographs of themselves in front of the police tape near the scene, with the Capitol looming in the background.
Just report the news, m'kay?
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline DCPatriot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,802
  • Gender: Male
  • "...and the winning number is...not yours!
Quote

U.S. Park Police officers found the man engulfed in flames when they arrived, said Maj. Patrick Smith. He said the cause of the blaze was under investigation.


Uh-huh.......    :whistle:
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline musiclady

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,682
As per Fox News, the man has died and can only be identified via DNA and dental records.
Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline flowers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,798
No way he was going to survive.   


Offline happyg

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11,820
  • Gender: Female
Man who set himself on fire at National Mall dies from injuries



More at link http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-set-fire-national-mall-dies-injuries-article-1.1477143

Offline musiclady

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,682
No way he was going to survive.

Not drenched in gasoline with only joggers' shirts to put the fire out.

I wonder if we'll ever get the story on this. 

Is he trying to start an "Arab Spring" here in America?
« Last Edit: October 05, 2013, 06:22:36 pm by musiclady »
Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline flowers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,798
Man who set himself on fire at National Mall dies from injuries



More at link http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-set-fire-national-mall-dies-injuries-article-1.1477143



Quote
Oddly enough, the deceased self-immolator was conscious and coherent enough in the aftermath of the incident to thank passers by for putting out the flames before being taken to hospital:

    The man reportedly thanked the joggers before he was taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center by a U.S. Park Police helicopter that

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-05/man-who-lit-himself-fire-national-mall-has-died?page=1

Hmmm non-white.


Offline flowers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,798
Quote
A question has emerged: was it an act meant to be documented, and if so why:

    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."

     

    Scheflen said the man may have said something beforehand “but it was nothing intelligible.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-05/man-who-lit-himself-fire-national-mall-has-died?page=1


Offline mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,125
AP
Quote
WASHINGTON  — A District of Columbia police spokesman says a man who set himself on fire on the National Mall has died of his injuries.

Officer Araz Alali says the man died Friday night at a Washington hospital where he had been airlifted.

He says the man was so badly burned that he will need to be identified through DNA and dental records.

The man poured a can of gasoline on himself in the center portion of the mall Friday afternoon. He then set himself on fire, with passing joggers taking off their shirts to help douse the flames.

Police are investigating the man’s possible motives for doing so.
Quote
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline EC

  • Shanghaied Editor
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,804
  • Gender: Male
  • Cats rule. Dogs drool.
The universe doesn't hate you. Unless your name is Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Avatar courtesy of Oceander

I've got a website now: Smoke and Ink

Offline flowers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,798
Hard to tell. Not many people stay white when they are on fire.
true..


rangerrebew

  • Guest
Was it Piers Morgan? :seeya:

Offline olde north church

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,117
I worked with a Vietnam vet who chuckled when he mentioned the monk's signs were always written in English.  They knew how to play the propaganda game.
Why?  Well, because I'm a bastard, that's why.

Oceander

  • Guest
Man who set himself on fire at National Mall dies from injuries



More at link http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-set-fire-national-mall-dies-injuries-article-1.1477143

Why is his torso digitally smeared?

Offline happyg

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11,820
  • Gender: Female
Why is his torso digitally smeared?

I didn't notice. Perhaps there are tattoos someone didn't want us to see?  :shrug:

Offline flowers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,798
I worked with a Vietnam vet who chuckled when he mentioned the monk's signs were always written in English.  They knew how to play the propaganda game.
I have always noticed that. They are usually written in English when playing to the media.


famousdayandyear

  • Guest
Interesting.  Obviously terrific human tragedy (unlike the woman who used her car as a weapon) is a comedic moment.   Any new hard news?  Did I miss something?

Offline musiclady

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,682
I didn't notice. Perhaps there are tattoos someone didn't want us to see?  :shrug:

Or perhaps they didn't want us to see his burned flesh.

I'm glad there are distortions.

btw, is there any update on who this guy was, and why he did this horrific thing?
Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,125
btw, is there any update on who this guy was, and why he did this horrific thing?
Still not identified.

Quote
A tourist captured the moment a man saluted the Capitol before deciding to set himself alight on Washington’s National Mall on Friday,

Javier Soto was visiting the tourist hotspots with his camera snapping shots of the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Then he went to see the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the White House.

Finally, returning to the National Mall and, just before 4:30 p.m., he aimed his camera east, toward the Capitol and saw a man pouring gasoline over his body from a canister.

Mr Soto says the man gave the Capitol building  a crisp military salute, before igniting the fuel with a lighter. ...
More at Daily Mail UK
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,125
Man Reportedly Sets Himself on Fire at National Mall UPDATE: IDENTIFIED
« Reply #22 on: October 08, 2013, 11:55:31 am »
DC fire victim once lived in Queens
By Associated Press
October 8, 2013 | 5:29am


WASHINGTON — The man who set himself on fire on the National Mall and later died was identified Monday as a New Jersey resident who, according to records, once lived in Queens.

John Constantino, 64, of Mount Laurel, NJ, had burns so severe that authorities needed to use DNA and dental records to identify him. District of Columbia police spokesman Paul Metcalf in an emailed statement confirmed his identity.

Constantino poured the contents of a red canister of gasoline on himself in the center portion of the mall Friday afternoon. He then set himself ablaze, with passing joggers taking off their shirts to help put out the flames. Police had said he was conscious and breathing at the scene.

But he died Friday night at a Washington hospital where he had been airlifted.

Police are investigating the man’s possible motives. Lt. Pamela Smith of the U.S. Park Police said she was not aware that he had carried any signs with him or had articulated a cause.

One witness, Katy Scheflen, said she did not hear the man say anything intelligible before he set himself on fire. But she said she did notice that another man with a tripod was standing nearby and had disappeared by the time the police had arrived. It was not immediately clear whether a recording exists.

“He appeared to be waiting for something to happen. After it happened, he was gone,” Scheflen, a Justice Department lawyer, said of the man with the tripod.

“I can’t say what the connection was between them or whether there was a connection,” she added.

The fire occurred in a city with jangled nerves following a Sept. 16 mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that left 13 dead, including the gunman, and a high-speed car chase outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. The chase ended with a woman being shot dead by police with a young child in the car.
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline aligncare

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25,916
  • Gender: Male
Quote
WASHINGTON — The man who set himself on fire on the National Mall and later died was identified Monday as a New Jersey resident who, according to records, once lived in Queens.

That alone explains it. I work in Queens and speak from experience. Traffic and parking sometimes has me eyeing the gas can.

Offline GourmetDan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,277
Re: Man Reportedly Sets Himself on Fire at National Mall UPDATE: IDENTIFIED
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2013, 01:19:12 pm »
One witness, Katy Scheflen, said she did not hear the man say anything intelligible before he set himself on fire. But she said she did notice that another man with a tripod was standing nearby and had disappeared by the time the police had arrived. It was not immediately clear whether a recording exists.

“He appeared to be waiting for something to happen. After it happened, he was gone,” Scheflen, a Justice Department lawyer, said of the man with the tripod.

“I can’t say what the connection was between them or whether there was a connection,” she added.

The commies used to do that when the Buddhist monks would set themselves on fire to protest America's involvement in the Vietnam war.  Set the whole thing up, drug the monk and record the immolation for the media.

I doubt they have changed...

"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan