A 19-year-old college student was arrested Monday night after carrying a backpack full of weapons into Trump Tower, the New York Daily News reports.
Wang showed up at Trump Tower about 6:35 p.m. Monday and tried to get in at a checkpoint. When his bag set off the metal detector, the Secret Service moved in and asked him to open it. The Secret Service found an M-100 firework, a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, handcuffs, an 8-foot black rope, a clear water gun, a laptop and a garrote, which of course is a wire that can be used to strangle someone.
The student, Baruch College finance student Alexander Wang, was arrested by the New York Police Department and charged with unlawful possession of fireworks and two counts of weapons possession.
The Daily News reported that the student told investigators that he was a big fan of President-elect Donald Trump and enjoyed studying at Trump Tower.
Wang told investigators he’d never had a problem carrying his bag — weapons and explosives included — into the Midtown skyscraper the 10 or so prior times he visited, including two days after Trump won the presidency, sources said. The Baruch College student called himself a survivalist who is into martial arts and likes to shoot off fireworks on a pier along the East River.
Wang told police there were more explosives in his Upper East Side dorm room, according to the Daily News. In his dorm room police found more fireworks inside a military-style ammunition box. But they found no evidence of any connection to a terror or militia group and found no firearms.
Sources said Wang’s roommate told police that while they rarely talk, Wang never indicated he advocated violence and never made any threatening statements.