In this photo provided by eyewitness Katy Scheflen, people run to a man who set himself on fire on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. Katy Scheflen/AP Photo

A man who set himself on fire on the National Mall in Washington Friday afternoon has died, a spokesperson for the Washington police said Saturday. Passers-by helped to extinguish the flames when they saw the unidentified man on fire, officials and witnesses said, before the man was flown to a hospital, where he died.

The reason for the self-immolation was not immediately clear, but the incident in a central gathering place rattled nerves in the nation's capital, still shaken a day after a high-speed car chase that ended with a woman being shot and killed by police, and weeks after a mass shooting at the nearby Navy Yard.



The man was standing by himself in the center part of the Mall Friday when he emptied the contents of a gasoline can on his body and set himself on fire moments later, said Katy Scheflen, who said she witnessed the incident as she walked across the area.

Police said they responded at about 4:20 p.m. Friday.

Scheflen said passing joggers took off their shirts in an effort to stifle the flames. A police department spokesman said the man had been conscious and breathing at the scene.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center said on Twitter that the man was taken there Friday and was in critical condition.

Scheflen said he may have said something before he acted, "but it was nothing intelligible." She said she did not see him holding any signs before he set himself ablaze.

Nicole Didyk, an environmental engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration, told Reuters she was out for a run when she spotted a man with small flames on him.

"There were five gentlemen hitting him with their T-shirts," she said. "When he fell over, his arms were all white. He was burned really bad."

The man thanked people who helped put the fire out, Didyk said.

Lt. Pamela Smith of the U.S. Park Police, which is investigating along with the D.C. police department, said, "I'm not aware of any signage or any articulation of any causes."

The D.C. police department has dispatched its violent crimes branch, which responds to cases in which a person suffers serious injury.

Wire services