A man who set himself on fire outside of the White House has died from his injuries. The 33-year-old was reported missing Wednesday morning when he was last seen leaving his home in Bethesda, Maryland.
Authorities in Montgomery County issued a missing person alert for Arnav Gupta stating that police were concerned for his "physical and emotional welfare."
Alina Berzins a 17-year-old visiting the national mall told CNBC that she was visiting the National Mall with two of her cousins when she witnessed the incident.
"We saw this man, he starts running, and then we saw him covered in flames,” she said. “Everybody was in shock.”
Police indicated the man lit himself on fire in the Ellipse, just south of the White House, when the flames were extinguished by first responders the man was taken to a local hospital.
A secret service officer was also taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation according to WJLA.
Park police indicated in a news release that the investigation has been turned over to the Metropolitan Police Department in according to policy.
— USPPNEWS (@usparkpolicepio) May 30, 2019
It is not the first time that someone attempted to set themselves on fire in the area surrounding the White House. In April, according to USA Today, a man riding a motorized wheelchair lit his jacket ablaze while reportedly recording the incident.
"He was holding both the jacket and a phone. It looked like he was recording the whole thing," Daniel Kingery, who watched the April incident said to the USA Today.
Neither incident made a threat to President Trump according to the Secret Service.
