Man sets himself on fire at McDonald's in Vancouver

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Meeshika Sharma
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A man carrying a gasoline can set himself on fire at a McDonald's restaurant in East Vancouver on Thursday night, prompting people to flee in panic. Police said the "distraught" man walked into the restaurant at Commercial Drive and East Broadway just after 9 p.m. PT.publive-image

A statement said officers tried to negotiate with him, but he ultimately "lit himself and parts of the restaurant on fire."

The man, who police said is in his 30s, survived and was taken to hospital with serious burns. His name wasn't released.The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. — an independent, civilian-led police watchdog — is now investigating.

Carla Arsenault who was in the area as the incident unfolded said, "There was a man sitting outside the McDonald's … I noticed that he had a can of gasoline. I could smell the gasoline."

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Arsenault said she called the non-emergency police line just before the man ran inside the restaurant.

She said he started shouting, then began pouring gasoline.

She added, "People started panicking and rushing out of the McDonald's.It was quite busy, and people started just flowing out ... I could see that the staff were rushing out the back.I saw people kind of jumping, 'cause I think they had to jump over gasoline as they were running, and kind of jumping past the man and past the gasoline to get out of the building."

Arsenault said the man then rushed to the back of the building and squatted down with a lit cigarette.

The witness said police spent nearly an hour outside the McDonald's, which was also partially damaged from the fire.

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