Teen not pictured. Photo: AP

A teenager with a bizarre explanation for a backpack containing weapons and fireworks was arrested inside Trump Tower Monday night, right outside the metallic elevators where politicians and Kanye West alike have been milling around since Trump was elected president.




Alexander Wang, a 19-year-old student at Baruch College, was arrested around 6:35 p.m. on Monday—not long after Rick Perry exited through the same Trump Tower lobby, the New York Post points out.

It’s not clear how or why the teen was busted, though the Post report indicates he was discovered when Secret Service agents checked his backpack at a security checkpoint. Inside, they allegedly uncovered “a large knife, handcuffs, water pistol, M100 firecracker and a garrote.”


When asked why he had the weapons in his bag, Wang allegedly told the officers, “I always walk with them.” Authorities reportedly discovered more fireworks in his dorm room.

Whatever the teen did or didn’t have planned, it’s clear that the situation with people coming in and out of the lobby of Trump Tower is a logistical nightmare for the Secret Service. Though the building is privately owned, its lobby was designated as a public space in a deal struck with the city in the 1970s that has also made possible CSPAN’s live feed of the lobby. But because the lobby is open to the public daily between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., the Secret Service has been tasked with screening random members of the public alongside politicians and celebrities invited to speak with the president-elect. Ultimately, it’s a cost-benefit analysis for the president-elect; the benefit is Trump gets to sleep in his own bed, the cost is only like, one million dollars a day.