Man Sets Himself on Fire Outside Donald Trump's Manhattan Trial

"Someone has set himself on fire in the protest area here at the Donald Trump trial," a Fox News reporter said during a live broadcast Friday

A man set himself on fire outside the Manhattan courthouse in which Donald Trump's trial on hush money charges is taking place.

On Friday afternoon, various reporters took to social media to share that a man had self-immolated outside the courtroom, though details were scant.

Politico reporter Emilo Ngo wrote on X that police were initially slow to respond because of heightened security placed around the area due to the former president's presence within the building.

"A person just self-immolated outside Manhattan court, where Trump trial underway. Police slow to respond in part because of barricades around park," Ngo wrote.

Outlets including Fox News, CNN and MSNBC were reporting live on television at the time of the incident,  with a Fox reporter saying, "There's a fire that has started, as you can see live...we wonder if a person is on fire."

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The reporter then quickly apologized for showing the fire to viewers, saying "Do we have a fire extinguisher in the truck?" to the network crew, before reporting that responders had "put jackets" over the body of a man. "They are now putting fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire," the reporter added.

"Someone has set himself on fire in the protest area here at the Donald Trump trial," the reporter added during the live broadcast.

Related: Air Force Member Dies After Setting Himself on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy in Protest of Gaza War

CNN's Laura Coates was also reporting live at the time of the incident, telling viewers "we are watching a man who is fully emblazoned in front of the courthouse today."

"We have seen an arm that has been visible that has been engulfed in total flames," Coates added.

The New York Times reported that it was a "young man" who "threw multicolored pamphlets in the air before lighting himself on fire," adding that "it took several minutes for police officers to rush to the scene."

The Times reported that the man collapsed before being smothered with a detective's coat to extinguish the flames and was taken away in an ambulance and "still moving" as officers asked him his name.

The motivations for the incident remained unclear.

In February, a U.S. Air Force member died one day after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in what appeared to have been a protest of Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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