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U.S.|Man Is Charged With Trying to Kidnap Memphis Mayor, Police Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/us/threat-kidnapping-memphis-mayor.html
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The 25-year-old man told the police that he had gone to the home of Mayor Paul Young to confront him about crime. The police later found a stun gun, rope and duct tape in the man’s car, they said.
June 19, 2025Updated 10:49 p.m. ET
A 25-year-old man who said he was angry about crime in Memphis and wanted to confront the city’s mayor scaled a wall at the mayor’s home late Sunday night and, armed with a stun gun, knocked on the front door, according to the Memphis Police Department.
The man, Trenton Abston, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempted kidnapping, stalking and aggravated criminal trespass in connection with the episode at the home of Mayor Paul Young. The police said that they had later recovered the stun gun, as well as gloves, rope and duct tape, from Mr. Abston’s car.
Mr. Young was home, along with his wife and two young children, when he saw the man knock on his door through his doorbell camera, the police said.
“Paul Young reported that he did not know the male and his presence at his door at a late hour wearing a hoodie and gloves put him, his wife and children in fear for their safety,” according to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday.
According to the complaint, in footage recorded by the mayor’s doorbell video camera, the man appeared to have “a lumpy bulge” in the pocket of his hoodie when he knocked on the door. Mr. Young did not open the door, and the man fled.
Mr. Young recounted the events of Sunday night in a Facebook post on Wednesday under a family portrait in which he, his wife and their two school-age children are smiling.
