Who is Aaron Bushnell? Self immolation video goes viral as man lights himself on fire in front of Israeli Embassy

Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active U.S. service member in the Air Force, set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC on Sunday, February 25, 2024, while screaming “free Palestine,” in apparent protest about the ongoing Israel -Hamas conflict, as reported by CNN.

Bushnell, who reportedly live-streamed the act on the web-broadcasting platform Twitch Sunday afternoon, identified himself as Aaron Bushnell before adding, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide.” He was wearing his service uniform at the time of the incident.

Trigger warning: The following video is graphic in nature. Viewer discretion is advised.

While the video has since been removed for guideline violations, it was captured and shared by netizens online. In the video, Bushnell after introducing himself, added that the harm he’s about to inflict on himself is incomparable to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. Bushnell then put the device down before pouring liquid over himself and lighting himself on fire while screaming, “Free Palestine.”

Law enforcement officials doused the fire and transported the victim to a hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night, Time magazine reported.

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Aaron Bushnell was a DevOps engineer for the airforce in San Antonio Texas

Spokespersons for the U.S. Air Force confirmed to CNN that Aaron Bushnell was an active-duty airman. According to his LinkedIn, Bushnell, who graduated from the University of Maryland Global campus with a degree in Computer science in 2023, has worked in the United States Air Force for nearly four years.

Bushnell graduated top of flight class and trained as a Client Systems Technician at the Air Force in 2020. He then worked as an IT infrastructure monitor for three years in San Antonio Texas, before he was hired as a DevOps engineer for cyber defense in the Air Force in 2023.

Bushnell, a software engineer with a wide breadth of experience in web development, software engineering, Linux system administration, and IT administration, was also pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from Western Governors University class of 2025. The bio on his LinkedIn read:

“Throughout my time in the military in both leadership and followership roles, as well as prior work experience in a variety of civilian roles, I have thrived in team environments and gained very good communication skills. I have been commended by senior leaders for my ability to explain complex technical matters to them. I can bring many such soft skills to the table in any role.”

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Aaron Bushnell worked for various charities in San Antonio

Humanizing Through Story, citing a friend, reported Aaron Bushnell worked in San Antonio for various mutual aid and unhoused coalitions serving the community. A friend from San Antonio who worked alongside Aaron in mutual Aid work throughout San Antonio told the website:

"Bushnell did incredible work here in San Antonio for various mutual aid and unhoused coalitions. He spent every penny and second, he had on serving his community...And living his anarchist principles in action."

The incident comes amid widespread protests in Tel Aviv calling for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation, BBC reported.

According to Alzajeera, at least 29,692 Palestinians have been killed and 69,879 injured in Israel’s continued attack on Gaza since October 7, 2023, which was spurred after Hamas attacked the Jewish nation.