Community members are planning to make cards to ease the healing of an Akron man who set himself on fire in public after ranting about presidential election results on Saturday.
The man is in stable condition, Akron police reported, but he has “a long road to full recovery.”
Members of the Akron community plan to gather Friday evening to make cards for the man. According to a Facebook event, they will meet at 5:15 p.m. at Mustard Seed Market, 867 W. Market St., in the city’s Highland Square neighborhood. Supplies will be provided.
“While the motivation behind this event appears to have been politically motivated, this is not a political event,” organizers explained. “This is about coming together as a community for a neighbor who is hurting.”
One of the event organizers also helped coordinate the march against President-elect Donald Trump last week. Witnesses said the 69-year-old man, dressed in a U.S. Marines uniform, set himself aflame after trying to seek out the march’s organizers. He told strangers at Angel Falls Coffee of the need to keep protesting Trump before exiting, dousing himself in fuel and lighting himself on fire.
Akron police on Monday said they do not intend to file charges against the man, whose family has asked for privacy following the incident.
“From our perspective,” police Lt. Rick Edwards said, “we hope he has a full recovery and gets the professional help that he needs.”