Man sets himself on fire outside US White House

June 1, 2019

At around 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday (1620 ) in the  capital city, Arnav Gupta, 33-year-old of , , set himself on fire in a publicly accessible area called the , between the south lawn of the  and the. Gupta was transported to a local hospital and originally listed in critical condition, according to officials, with burns over reportedly 85% of his body. He died that night.

Emergency responders included the and. Responders drove their vehicles onto the Ellipse where an officer used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. The Secret Service confirmed a single male was transported to a local hospital and the response took place within seconds.

On Wednesday morning Gupta's family members filed a missing persons report, according to the.

Tourists captured pictures and video of the incident. Once the white extinguisher smoke cleared the man had collapsed. Surrounding areas were reportedly shut down. As of Thursday, no official statement had been made on the man's motivation.

Gupta's self-immolation follows another attempt in April where a wheelchair-using individual attempted to set his jacket on fire along the north lawn fence line.