A man poured a can of gasoline on his head and set himself on fire in Washington D.C. Friday, just hours after a mentally unstable woman died in a shootout with D.C. police. The woman, Miriam Carey, rammed the White House gates before leading authorities on a wild police chase that ended in her death. The unidentified man who lit himself on fire was airlifted to an area hospital, according to CBS News on Oct. 4.
The man, who self-inflagrated, did suffer life-threatening injuries, according to Washington D.C. fire department spokesman Tim Wilson. He's currently in critical condition.
Vanessa Sink@LiveMusicGirl tweeted, "I didn't see him light the match, but I saw the flames engulf his body. It was surreal", myFoxDC reported.
That news came on the heels of the Stamford, Conn., woman who was shot to death outside the U.S. Capitol, after first trying to ram her car through the White House gates.
Carey, 34, rammed her black Infiniti into the White House barricades, then led police on a chase down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol, where she was shot to death after a horrific chain of events.
Carey was suffering from postpartum depression, her mother told officials and ABC News. She was said to be delusional, and thought President Obama was communicating directly with her.
Thankfully the woman's 1-year-old daughter was unharmed in the melee. The man who set himself on fire was standing at the intersection of Seventh Street and Madison Drive, in the center portion of the Washington Mall, when he poured a red container of liquid onto himself and lit a flame.
The incident took place near the National Air and Space Museum. Witnesses say two joggers tried to aid the man by ripping their own shirts off and trying to douse the fire.
A capital police department spokesman said the man was conscious and breathing at the scene. Washington Hospital Center tweeted that the he had been taken there, but had no condition update.
No direct links to this week's government shutdown have been made, but American's are drawing their own conclusions.
