By Audrey Decker

WASHINGTON - “Whether it was politically motivated or other, we lost one of ours,” Gen. Allvin said after being heckled by protesters.

After the U.S. Air Force chief was repeatedly hectored by protesters at a Wednesday think-tank event, Gen. David Allvin called an airman’s recent self-immolation a “tragedy” and said his service is investigating.

“For our Air Force, we look at this as, whether it was politically motivated or other, we lost one of ours. And so, any suicide, whether by political protest or by resiliency issues or wherever it is, is a tragedy and as we're looking at wherever the rationale might be, there's a standard investigation process [to] go through that and we look at that to make sure we understand everything about what happened,” Allvin said during an event at the Brookings Institution.

Active duty airman Aaron Bushnell, 25, of Whitman, Massachusetts, set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, declaring that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and shouting “Free Palestine” during his final moments.

Seven protesters interrupted the Brookings event on Wednesday, shouting various statements surrounding the Israel-Hamas war and Bushnell’s death, including “ceasefire now,” “you killed Aaron Bushnell,” and “say his name.”

Allvin didn’t respond to the protesters, but when asked about Bushnell’s death during the question-and-answer portion of the event, the general said the Air Force must tackle suicide.