A man has set himself on fire at the National Mall here, a day after a woman was shot dead by police outside the US Capitol nearby, after a high-speed car chase, witnesses and police officials said.
"It does appear that a man sustained self-inflicted burns," Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump said.
The incident happened at the Mall, the country capital's grassy esplanade, some six blocks away from the Capitol Hill, where yesterday, a woman motoroist led the authorities on almost two-mile chase, sparking a brief lockdown of the high-security complex.
The District of Columbia Fire Department spokesman Tim Wilson said the man has life-threatening injuries.
"No indication on our end of what caused the fire, the only thing we can pretty much comment on is we were dispatched to the call and responded to it. So how it started, don't know," Wilson was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
The identity of the man was not immediately known. The police is yet to reveal his name.
"I saw a man sitting in flames. He had already doused himself in gasoline, I believe," Adam Stifel, an eyewitness, was quoted as saying by the CNN.
Five or six people used their shirts to pat out the fire, he said.
