Man In Custody After Break-In At Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Office Building: NYPD
A man was arrested Saturday after breaking into a building in Queens, New York, where Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has offices, police said.
Douala Hashi, 31, of Washington was arrested and charged with menacing, criminal mischief and criminal trespass, said the New York City Police Department.
The intruder allegedly argued with building employees on the ground floor before running up to the third floor around 5 p.m. Saturday, reported The New York Post. Hashi was known to employees and was emotionally disturbed, according to police.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office called security when they noticed Hashi wandering around the building, the Post reported, citing building employees.
Hashi sprayed responding police officers with a fire extinguisher and ran into a utility closet while holding a broken bottle, police said.
He was later arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation.
Police initially stated that Hashi broke into Ocasio-Cortez’s offices, but later said her offices were “never breached.” Hashi has no relation to the freshman lawmaker, according to the NYPD.
“It appears to have been a coincidence that this happened in our building,” Corbin Trent, spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, told NBC New York. “We are glad that it was resolved peacefully.”
Ocasio-Cortez was in Washington at the time of the incident.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
