A man accused of searching for Memphis’s house, Tennessee, mayor, was accused of attempted kidnapping and harassment, according to the police, who said that the suspect had a taser, gloves, ropes and adhesive tape in his vehicle at the time of his arrest.
The suspect, Trenton Abston, 25, allegedly admitted to having gone to the mayor’s house to confront him about the crime in Memphis, according to the affidavit of the complaint, who claimed that he took “substantial steps towards the commission of a kidnapping” that involves the mayor of the city.
The suspect was arrested and accused after the police investigated “suspicious activity” in the neighborhood of Mayor Paul Young, the Memphis police department said Wednesday.
“On Sunday night, around 9:30 pm, a man jumped a wall that led to our subdivision,” said Young in a statement. “Now we know that he walked directly to our house, knocking on the door with gloves, a complete pocket and nervous behavior.”
Young was at home at that time, according to the affidavit. After someone knocked on his door, the mayor looked at his ring bell video and saw an unknown man “with a hooded sweatshirt and standing gloves at his door with a lumpful lump in his hood pocket,” the affidavit said.
“Paul Young reported that he did not know the man and his presence at his door at a late hour with a hoodie and gloves put him to him, his wife and children fear his safety,” said the affidavit.
The man fled when no one responded to the door, according to the affidavit.
The surveillance images showed that the individual went directly to the mayor’s residence by climbing the wall and did not approach any other home in the neighborhood, according to the Memphis Police Department. His face was “clearly captured” in the ring footage, according to the affidavit.
The reserve photo for Trenton Abston.
Memphis Police Department
Police identified Abston as a person of interest in the case on Tuesday through the databases of the application of the law, and the abston employer identified him positively in the images of the night of the incident, according to the affidavit. Abston’s vehicle was also captured in video systems near the Young residence “on multiple occasions between May and June 2025, including the night of the incident,” said the affidavit.
The officers arrested Abston in their place of employment without incident and found a hood and gloves in their vehicle that coincide with what was seen in the images of the ring, according to the affidavit. A taser, Roll of Duct Tape and White Soge in the vehicle, said the police.
After renouncing his rights of Miranda, Abston supposedly admitted to having investigated Young’s speech and having gone to the mayor’s residence on Sunday night to “confront Paul Young about the crime in the city of Memphis and declared that he was angry with Paul Young and was armed with a taser when he went to the residence,” said the affidavit.
Abston has been accused of attempted kidnapping, harassment and aggravated criminal transfer, police said. He is detained in the Sheriff’s office prison in Shelby County and is scheduled to appear before the court on Friday, as shown in the online prison records. It is not clear if you have a lawyer right now.
The Memphis Police Department proved the “rapid response” of its officers and surveillance images throughout the neighborhood that are identified, quickly located to the suspect.
“We understand the concerns raised by this incident and we want to assure the public that the Memphis Police Department remains totally committed to the safety of all residents, including the elected officials of our city,” the department said in a press release. “We take any potential threat seriously and we will continue acting quickly and back.”
The incident occurs in the midst of the main concerns about violence against elected officials, after two Minnesota legislators and their spouses were fired on Saturday in what prosecutors called “political murders.” The State Democratic Representative of Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, Mark, were killed, and Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were injured in the attacks.
Young, who has served as mayor of Memphis since January 2024, cited Minnesota’s shootings while feeling for political violence “cannot become our norm.”
“In the current climate, especially after the tragic events in Minnesota and the threats that my wife and I often received online, none of us can be too careful,” said Young in a statement about Instagram while sharing a photo of him and his family. “The link between angry rhetoric and real -life violence is becoming undeniable.”
“We are going better,” he added. “Let’s raise our speech, reduce hate and protect each other, regardless of our beliefs. Let’s claim our strength as a single community. Let’s choose love.”
