A U.S. Air Force member has died after setting himself on fire while standing outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and yelling “Free Palestine,” authorities shared on Monday.
Citing a United States official, NBC News reported that the service member was 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell. The outlet said officials were still notifying his next of kin at this time.
Video streamed on Twitch on Sunday afternoon appeared to show Bushnell dressed in uniform, standing in front of the embassy, and identifying himself as a member of the U.S. Air Force.
In the video, Bushnell can reportedly be heard saying several things, including “Free Palestine,” which he yelled after setting himself on fire.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza]. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” Bushnell can be heard saying.
Since the incident, a Facebook post from Bushnell has surfaced, appearing to be his final message before he carried out his plan.
“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now,” he wrote.
The post to Facebook linked to the Twitch livestream, which was later removed for the graphic images depicted.
After lighting himself on fire, Bushnell was sprayed with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived at the scene.
He was taken to a local hospital at around 1 p.m. with life-threatening injuries. He was listed in critical condition.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared in a statement with GLZ Radio that no embassy staff were injured in the incident and that Bushnell was not known by the embassy beforehand.
The incident is being investigated by the Metropolitan D.C. Police, the United States Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.