An unidentified 20-year-old man who scaled the Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday for more than two hours using what looked like suction cups and a climbing harness was pulled inside through a window by police who had tried to coax him into the building throughout the escapade.
The 58-story tower on Fifth Avenue is headquarters for the election campaign of Donald Trump, the U.S. Republican presidential nominee.
As the man, who wore a backpack, climbed the tower's glass exterior police removed large window panels above him and several officers, some wearing helmets, stood at the windows. The climber shifted his route several times in what appeared to be an attempt to get around the police.
Mediaite identified a video that appeared on YouTube posted by someone with the profile name Leven Thumps that announced the intention to scale the skyscraper and his motives for doing so. The man was identified by police as "Steve from Virginia."
In the video entitled “Message to Mr. Trump (why I climbed your tower)," the man claims to be “an independent researcher seeking a private audience with you to discuss an important matter.”
“I guarantee you that it is in your interests to honor this request. Believe me. If my purpose was not significant, I would not risk my life pursuing it.
“Be sure to get out and vote for Mr. Trump in the 2016 election,” he concludes.
The 58-story building is headquarters for the election campaign of Donald Trump, the U.S. Republican presidential nominee.
The man, wearing shorts, a black shirt and a backpack, climbed the tower's glass exterior, above an outdoor terrace around five stories off the ground, according to a Reuters reporters on the scene.
New York police shut down several streets surrounding the building in one of the city's busiest neighborhoods, while officers climbed to a section of the building above the man. Police also placed an inflatable landing pad on East 56th Street between Madison and Fifth avenues.
The New York Police Department said on Twitter that the department's special operations division and emergency crews had responded at Trump Tower's address to the man climbing the building.
Reports of the climber first surfaced on Twitter and social media around 4 p.m. (2000 GMT). Over the following hour, police appeared to try various ways of coaxing the man inside, first by throwing a rope in his direction and then by opening a large grate directly above his position.
Shortly after 5 p.m., someone shattered a window on the 16th floor, a few stories above the man, and draped what looked like blankets over the ledge.
An individual appeared to be talking with the man through the empty window frame, but the man began moving away again, climbing even higher.
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