ATLANTA (RNN) - The Georgia State Patrol said a veteran frustrated with the U.S. Veterans Administration attempted to commit self-immolation Tuesday outside the State Capitol.
The 58-year-old Air Force veteran set himself on fire around 10:45 a.m. ET, Capt. Mark Perry told Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“He was strapped with some homemade incendiary devices (and) firecrackers and doused himself with some kind of flammable liquid," Perry said to the AJC.
A trooper put the man out with a fire extinguisher, and the veteran was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with burns on the vast majority of his body.
The Georgia Department of Public Safety had been holding a news conference nearby on new "hands-free" distracted driving laws when the explosion was heard.
No other injuries have been reported. Roads in the area have been closed, and police moved people out of the Capitol and other nearby buildings as a precaution, and they are searching for other possible incendiary devices in the area.
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