An active-duty airman who set himself on fire on Sunday outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate his opposition to the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza has died of his injuries, according to the Air Force.
“The individual involved in yesterday’s incident succumbed to his injuries and passed away last night,” the Air Force said in a statement on Monday. “We will provide additional details 24 hours after next of kin notifications are complete.”
The Air Force deferred further questions to Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.
The Air Force has not publicly released the identity of the airman, but in a video that he posted of the self-immolation, he said his name was Aaron Bushnell. A LinkedIn account for a man matching the name and appearance of Aaron Bushnell said he had served in the Air Force since 2020 and was working in information technology management.
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In the roughly 3-minute video, the man says he is an active-duty airman and that he will “no longer be complicit in genocide.”
“I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but when compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all,” the man says. “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
The man then puts down his camera, stands in front of the embassy, douses himself with a clear liquid from a thermos, puts his cover on, and tries to ignite himself as someone off camera asks, “Hi sir, can I help you?”
After a few seconds, he sets himself alight and screams “Free Palestine!” several times as the flames quickly consume him. Then he starts screaming.
People off camera can be heard yelling: “Man’s on fire! Man’s on fire!”
The man continues to scream as another person off camera yells at him to get on the ground, presumably so he can put out the flames.
Sirens can be heard as the man tries to yell “Free Palestine” again, but his screams become unintelligible. People on the scene call for a fire extinguisher. After burning for a minute, the man collapses, and a first responder tries to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.
The man continues to burn as a first responder yells, “I don’t need guns, I need a fire extinguisher.”
About 3 minutes into the video, two officers with extinguishers manage to smother the flames. The video ends when someone picks up the camera and says: “What is this? Who is this?”
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