Police tackled a 30-year-old man waving a Samurai sword in Apple's flagship New York City store on Fifth Avenue Friday afternoon, authorities say.
Video captured from inside the store posted to social media shows the suspect, identified as Hsu Chien, sitting down on the stairs, waving the sword around his head and then dropping it onto the stair platform. He then gets up and starts walking down the stairs, holding the sword in both hands over his right shoulder. [[352632881, C]]
"I have never in my life felt so terrified," Nancy Birnbaum, who was at the store's Genius Bar, said. "He pulled his sword out and everybody got back. I honestly thought that was it."
Chien was tackled by two off-duty officers paid by Apple to provide security. An extensive NYPD presence was visible outside the building.
No injuries were reported.
Chien appeared to be emotionally disturbed, police said. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center for evaluation. There was no immediate information on possible charges.
Giovanni Gabbani, a London man who was in the store at the time the man waved the sword, said he tried to talk to Chien.
"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," Gabbani said.
The store was not evacuated.
