Videos of a man with a samurai sword who walked into Apple's flagship store in New York City's Fifth Avenue location have been circulating on social media. The man, who wore a hat and sunglasses and started swinging around the sword shocked shoppers as he wandered through the store and even went up and down in the store's famed glass-encased stair case.
The 30-year old man is being described in reports as unhinged and mentally disturbed. His identity has not been released.
Various videos taken from inside the store during the incident show him sitting on the stairs while waving his sword about his head and dropping it. He is also shown walking around the store with the sword over his right shoulder as he holds it with both hands.
Reports indicate that there was extensive NYPD presence outside the store once the man was reported and he was eventually tackled by two off-duty police officers who were paid by Apple to provide security at the store.
In what can probably only happen in New York, although shoppers were visibly shaken by the man's presence, the store was business as usual during the entire incident and the location was not evacuated.
One of the Apple store's other customers, Giovanni Gabbani, from London, attempted to speak with the samurai sword-wielding stranger in an attempt to calm him.
"We're all human beings, people have issues, I feel maybe he had some trouble and if I can talk to him and show him that people care, maybe that will diffuse and stop the situation," he said.
No injuries were reported from the unusual event, even for New York standards, and the man was taken to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
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