FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2013 file photo provided by Katy Scheflen, people run to a man who set himself on fire on the National Mall in Washington. Police on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 identified the man, who... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2013 file photo provided by Katy Scheflen, people run to a man who set himself on fire on the National Mall in Washington. Police on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 identified the man, who... (Associated Press) 
 
 The death of a New Jersey man who set himself on fire on the National Mall was the result of his long fight with mental illness, not a political statement, his family said. 
 
 John Constantino, 64, of Mount Laurel, N.J., poured the contents of a canister of gasoline on himself in the center portion of the mall Friday afternoon, police said. He then set himself ablaze, with passing joggers taking off their shirts to help put out the flames. 
 
 Police had said Constantino was conscious and breathing at the scene, but he died later that night at a Washington hospital. 
 
 "John Constantino was a loving father and husband. His death was not a political act or statement, but the result of his long battle with mental illness," his family said in a statement issued through lawyer Jeffrey Cox. 
 
 After he set himself on fire, there was speculation about whether his self-immolation was an effort to protest the federal government shutdown, President Barack Obama's health insurance overhaul, or anything else. 
 
 The statement did not address the nature of the mental illness, and Cox said he did not know Constantino's occupation or other biographical details. He also said that funeral arrangements had not been finalized. 
 
 The family said in the statement that it "would like to acknowledge the heroism of the paramedics and bystanders who attempted to save" Constantino. 
 
 The family "is shocked and deeply saddened," the statement said. Describing the incident as a "personal family matter and not an issue of public concern," it asked that the media respect its request for privacy. 
 
 Constantino had lived in a townhome in the Philadelphia suburb of Mount Laurel since the unit was built in 1989, property records show. No one answered the door Tuesday at the house, where freshly planted chrysanthemums were in front. 
 
 Several neighbors said they didn't know Constantino. Some who did said he was a good man and that his death was a surprise. 

 The New Jersey man who died after setting himself ablaze on the National Mall in Washington had railed against the government and told a neighbor “America is falling apart.” 
 
 John Constantino “didn’t like the government for some reason,” neighbor Joe Horner told The Daily News. 
 
 “He said they were a waste of time, effort and money,” Horner, 56, said. “He said to me, ‘They’re no good. They don’t look out for us and they don’t care about anything but their own pockets.’” 
 
 Horner spoke out after Constantino’s family lawyer issued a statement saying his dramatic death Friday “was not a political act or statement, but the result of his long battle with mental illness.” 
 
 Horner said he saw his 64-year-old friend on Thursday and he showed no signs of being insane. 
 
 “He was his happy self,” said Horner, who lives on a few doors down from modest, two-story, book-filled townhouse in Mt. Laurel, N.J., that Constantino shared with his wife. 
 
 EXCLUSIVE PHOTO: Constantino’s act came as the government shutdown continues to hover of the city and shortly after a Connecticut woman was killed after a police chase near the White House. (TERRY HAYES) 
 
 “There was no evidence, no sign of anything that would make you think he’d even be considering a think like that,” he said. 
 
 “People who are sad and depressed don’t do that,” he said. “I’m baffled.” 
 
 Constantino, a father of three grown children who once lived in Queens, was friendly, outgoing, and a member of the neighborhood association, neighbors said. 
 
 “If you needed a helping hand, that guy would help you,” Horner said. “It breaks my heart that he did that. I would have done anything to help but I didn't know.” 
 
 A second neighbor who only identified himself as John echoed Horner, calling the dead man “a good friend, a good neighbor.” 
 
 Constantino’s incident took place on the National Mall in between the National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum. (Joe Marino/New York Daily News) 
 
 “John will be missed,” the distraught neighbor said, his voice halting. 
 
 Constantino’s kin declined to discuss their family tragedy. 
 
 “I am not aware of any anti-government statements made by him or any ill will he may have had against the government,” Constantino family lawyer, Jeffrey Cox, said. 
 
 Constantino's dramatic self-immolation came as Washington was on edge day after a troubled Connecticut woman was killed by cops near the Capitol after a high-speed car chase — and as the nation remains in the grip of a partial government shutdown. 
 
 Constantino, who was described as a "loving father and husband," doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire between the Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery — and in front of hundreds of shocked onlookers. 
 
 ‘(Constantino’s) death was not a political act or statement,’ a lawyer for his family said Tuesday. (Vanessa Sink/Reuters) 
 
 Passing joggers stripped off their shirts and doused the flames. 
 
 Despite his severe burns, Constantino was still conscious and reportedly said thank you before he was airlifted to the local hospital where he died. But he was so badly burned cops needed DNA and dental records to identify him. 
 
 This is a "personal family matter and not an issue of public concern,” Cox said in a statement. 
 
 Constantino's family "would like to acknowledge the heroism of the paramedics and bystanders who attempted to save his life,” the statement said. 
 
 csiemaszko@nydailynews.com 
 
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– The suicide of the man who set himself ablaze on the National Mall last week was the result of mental illness, not his political beliefs, his family says. John Constantino "was a loving father and husband," and his death "was not a political act or statement," the 64-year-old's family said in a statement, the AP reports. The family would like to acknowledge "the heroism of the paramedics and bystanders who attempted to save his life," the statement says. The family's lawyer says he is "not aware of any anti-government statements made by him or any ill will he may have had against the government." His neighbors say they are baffled by the death of the man they describe as friendly and happy. He had complained about the government to neighbors—though only in terms that many ordinary Americans would agree with. "He said they were a waste of time, effort, and money," one neighbor tells the New York Daily News. "He said to me, 'They’re no good. They don’t look out for us and they don’t care about anything but their own pockets.'"