A man set himself on fire inside Google‘s downtown Manhattan office building on Friday.
The 63-year-old set himself on fire at a building at 315 Hudson Street around 2.58pm, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) told the Daily Mail.
Video showed the man walking into the building’s lobby before blowing up in flames, the New York Daily News reported.
Horrified security staff reportedly managed to douse the fire and he was transported to Weill Cornell Medical Center in a stable condition.
The fire is believed to have emanated from the man’s book bag and been fueled by lighter fluid, sources told the outlet.
He did not say anything or carry any political leaflets.
Photos of the scene afterwards showed a singed backpack off the curb of the building, where Google occupies more than 400,000sq ft of office space. The incident did not happen inside the tech giant’s offices.
A building worker, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the outlet that surveillance footage showed the man first entering the building around 2pm and then leaving.
A man burst into flames inside Google’s downtown Manhattan office building on Friday
The New York City Police Department set up a crime scene outside the Hudson Street building, pictured here on a separate day
He returned to the lobby about one hour later before suddenly exploding, the building worker said.
Another worker said he spotted ‘flames in the lobby’ from across the street.
‘Then the flames were running around the lobby, and security was trying to put him out,’ the second worker added.
Police found a collapsible baton inside the man’s bag, the Daily News reported.
The worker said a security guard had emerged from the building and thrown the burning backpack out on the street.
Meanwhile, the other guards helped the man with fire extinguishers.
‘When they brought him out, he was terribly burned, all wrapped in bandages,’ the worker told the outlet. ‘I don’t know if you want to live that way. It was terrible.’
The New York City Police Department said the incident happened shortly before 3pm on Friday
A crime scene was set up outside the building by the NYPD after the incident, in which no one else was injured.
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau building is also housed at 315 Hudson Street.
No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing, police said.
This is a breaking news story. More to come.
