A person accused of trespassing on the house of the Memphis, Tennessee, mayor has been charged with tried kidnapping and stalking, in line with police, who mentioned the suspect had a Taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his automobile on the time of his arrest.
The suspect was apprehended and charged after police investigated “suspicious exercise” in Mayor Paul Younger’s neighborhood, the Memphis Police Division mentioned Wednesday.
“On Sunday evening, round 9:30 pm, a person jumped a wall main into our subdivision,” Younger mentioned in an announcement. “We now know that he walked straight to our house, knocking on the door with gloves on, a full pocket, and a nervous demeanor.”
Surveillance footage confirmed that the person went on to the mayor’s residence upon scaling the wall and didn’t strategy another house within the neighborhood, in line with the Memphis Police Division.
The suspect — 25-year-old Trenton Abston — has been charged with tried kidnapping, stalking and aggravated felony trespass, police mentioned. He’s detained on the Shelby County Sheriff’s Workplace jail and is scheduled to look in courtroom on Friday, on-line jail data present. It’s unclear if he has an legal professional at the moment.
The reserving picture for Trenton Abston.
Memphis Police Division
The Memphis Police Division credited the “speedy response” of its officers and the surveillance footage all through the neighborhood with shortly figuring out, finding and arresting the suspect.
“We perceive the considerations raised by this incident and wish to reassure the general public that the Memphis Police Division stays absolutely dedicated to the protection of all residents, together with our metropolis’s elected officers,” the division mentioned in a press launch. “We take any potential risk critically and can proceed to behave swiftly and completely.”
The incident comes amid heightened considerations over violence in opposition to elected officers, after two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses had been shot on Saturday in what prosecutors known as “political assassinations.” Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, had been killed, and Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his spouse, Yvette, had been wounded within the assaults.
Younger, who has served as Memphis’ mayor since January 2024, cited the Minnesota shootings whereas making a plea that political violence “can’t turn into our norm.”
“In right this moment’s local weather, particularly after the tragic occasions in Minnesota and the threats my spouse and I typically obtain on-line, none of us may be too cautious,” Younger mentioned in an announcement on Instagram whereas sharing a photograph of him and his household. “The hyperlink between offended on-line rhetoric and real-life violence is changing into plain.”
“Let’s do higher,” he added. “Let’s increase our discourse, cut back the hate, and shield each other — regardless of our beliefs. Let’s reclaim our energy as one neighborhood. Let’s select love.”
