Man Allegedly Showed Up at Mayor's House With Taser

A man allegedly armed with a Taser is accused of scaling a wall at Memphis Mayor Paul Young's gated community and knocking on the mayor's door Sunday night. Police responded to reports of a suspicious person in the neighborhood around 9:30pm. Around that same time, Young heard his doorbell ring, and saw a man he didn't know wearing gloves and a hoodie at his front door via his Ring doorbell camera, Fox 13 Memphis reports. Young did not answer the door, and the man left, the Washington Post reports. Suspect Trenton Abston, 25, was later arrested at his place of employment, the Memphis Police Department announced Wednesday. Police say a Taser, rope, gloves, and duct tape was found in his car.

He has been charged with attempted kidnapping, stalking, and aggravated criminal trespass, ABC News reports. He allegedly told police he wanted to confront Young regarding crime in Memphis and had researched where the mayor lived. "In today's climate, especially after the tragic events in Minnesota and the threats my wife and I often receive online, none of us can be too careful," Young said in a statement following the incident, and referencing the shootings of two lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota, which left one couple dead. "The link between angry online rhetoric and real-life violence is becoming undeniable." (More Memphis stories.)