US Airman Who Set Himself On Fire In Front Of Israeli Embassy Dies
Update(1304ET): The young active duty Air Force service member has died after setting himself on fire yesterday in front of the Israeli Embassy in D.C. while yelling "free Palestine!"...
"The 25-year-old airman, Aaron Bushnell, of San Antonio, Texas, died from his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department said Monday," AP reports.
The US Air Force also confirmed in a statement, "The individual involved in yesterday’s incident succumbed to his injuries and passed away last night." The military said it is notifying next of kin.
Some of his final social media posts have since emerged where it appears he's hinting he's about to do something drastic...
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The US Air Force late in the day Sunday confirmed that one of its own active duty members was the man who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC in order to protest the Gaza war.
While in military uniform, the man was heard saying he "will no longer be complicit in genocide" and then self-immolated, an act recorded in live-streamed video which has since been removed from his Twitch channel. The US Air Force issued a statement through a spokesperson saying "I can confirm an active duty Airman was involved in today’s incident."
The man has not been officially identified, but he was heard saying that his name is "Aaron Bushnell". He had also been recorded as saying that what he's about to do was minimal compared with the suffering and plight of the Palestinians, according to CNN.
"I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all," he said before lighting himself on fire. "This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal," he had added.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department said in the aftermath: "The Metropolitan Police Department responded to the 3500 block of International Drive, NW, at approximately 1:00 p.m., to assist the United States Secret Service after an individual set themselves on fire in front of an embassy in the block."
The man is reportedly in critical condition after being transported to the hospital. According to a description of the grim scene just before the flames were extinguished:
He then sets the recording device on the ground before pouring an unknown liquid over himself and igniting it while yelling "Free Palestine" repeatedly. He eventually collapses as police officers rush to douse the flames with fire extinguishers.
Apparently the US Secret Service had been the first on the scene and were the ones to extinguish the blaze. The man's injuries are said to be "life-threatening".
The bizarre and rare incident is being investigated by the US Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). No Israeli embassy staff members or bystanders were hurt in the incident.
As people rushed to try and save his life, an Israeli embassy agent held a gun fixed on Aaron Bushnell following his self-immolation.
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) February 26, 2024
pic.twitter.com/apVD0joXUH
Media reports have since confirmed that Bushnell is 25-years old who may have been seeking discharge from the military:
The Air Force officer who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in DC in protest against the war in Gaza was an 'aspiring engineer' and seeking to 'transition out of the military'.
Aaron Bushnell, 25, was hospitalized in critical condition on Sunday after he doused himself in accelerant and struck a lighter, causing his body to become consumed by flames. DC Fire and EMS said he sustained 'life-threatening injuries'.
According to more from The Daily Mail, he appears to have had interactions with social media pages of potentially radical or far Left groups:
The active-duty airman is a DevOps engineer based in San Antonio, Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile. He touted himself having 'very good communication skills' and 'thriving in team environments'.
Bushnell is pursuing his bachelor's degree in computer software engineering and is CompTIA Security+ certified, a credential that indicates he has the baseline skills to perform core security functions and pursue an IT security career.
He has apparent links to at least two anarchist groups, Burning River Anarchist Collective and Mutual Aid Street Solidarity - both of which are based in Ohio. Bushnell followed the groups on Facebook.
It's actually not the first time this has happened on US soil in response to the Gaza war, where at this point close to 30,000 Palestinians have died, according to Gaza sources. In December a person self-immolated in front of the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta.
That initial incident received scant media attention, and no information about the protester's identity or even gender were released. Police had only described "likely an extreme act of political protest" - after which the person was hospitalized with severe injuries.
Atlanta's police chief had said at the time that "police are aware of heightened tensions in the Jewish and Muslim community and have stepped up patrols at certain locations, including the consulate." But again, curiously these extreme forms of 'protest' have received little attention in media, possibly because the imagery is so disturbing.