A popular local musician in Tennessee died after setting himself on fire while livestreaming it on Facebook and then running into a crowded bar — a scene so gruesome and confusing that some witnesses thought it wasn’t real.

Video circulating online purportedly shows Jared McLemore, 33, dousing himself with kerosene while sitting in a parking lot near a bar in Memphis at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. After emptying the canister, it appears a bystander at the last second tried to help McLemore, who erupts in flames before running out of the frame as frantic witnesses watch and scream in horror.

“This overwhelming smell of kerosene filled the room,” musician Jim Duckworth, who had just wrapped up a set at the bar, told WREG. “Before you see anything, the smell filled the room.”

Duckworth and his girlfriend, Kim Koehler, said the scene was so shocking that some witnesses simply froze in fear — wondering if it was possibly a stunt gone awry or just part of the show.

“It looked like a movie, like someone wearing a flame-retardant suit,” Koehler told WREG. “There were some people who thought that it was a joke.”

Koehler said McLemore’s ex-girlfriend — who had a restraining order against him following domestic assault charges — was working just feet away when he ran into Murphy’s bar in the 1500 block of Madison Avenue in Memphis.

“It was almost like he waited for us to be over so that he would be the center of attention,” Koehler told WREG.com. “He wanted it to go down in some sick way and for everybody to see it.”

McLemore was arrested last year on charges of strangling and threatening to kill Alyssa Moore, according to court records.

McLemore had been ordered to undergo mental evaluations and received probation last month on domestic assault charges. Witnesses said Moore had a restraining order against McLemore, but he couldn’t stay away from her, WREG reports.

Police have not confirmed the victim’s identity in the incident, but a studio where McLemore worked as an audio engineer released a statement acknowledging his death, the Commercial Appeal reported.

“We were saddened to hear about the passing of Jared McLemore and the circumstances surrounding his death,” Ardent general manager Ryan Wiley said in the statement. “He was a talented musician and artist, and our thoughts and prayers are now with his family and friends.”

McLemore and another man who tried to kick away a lighter after he set himself on fire were rushed to the hospital after the incident. A witness said a bartender used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. McLemore later died at Regional Medical Center, the Commercial Appeal reports.

Paul Garner, a well-known local activist, told the newspaper he suffered second-degree burns while trying to help McLemore.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page set up Saturday to help Moore — McLemore’s “intended target of his rage” — has surpassed $26,000, shattering its original goal of $6,300.

“Jared waited until the second band playing that night had finished its set, when he knew Alyssa would walk away from the soundboard,” the website reads. “Jared approached Alyssa and mumbled something about ‘goodbye,’ then grabbed her arm and wiped it on his chest to show he was covered in kerosene. He then walked through the crowded bar, making his presence known to all of the patrons. He crossed the street, and when he saw Alyssa had walked outside, he quickly doused his body with more kerosene and lit himself on fire, streaming on Facebook Live, in full view of onlookers concerned for Alyssa’s safety.”

Days earlier, on Wednesday, McLemore posted a three-word message on his Facebook page.

“Erased and forgotten,” it read.