Man Arrested for Wielding Giant Samurai Sword in Apple Store

One woman thought he was a member of ISIS.

An man was arrested Friday after he terrified Apple store customers by brandishing an enormous samurai sword. According to the Huffington PostHsu Chien busted out the sword on the glass staircase of Apple's busiest New York City store, located on Fifth Avenue. No one was injured, but Chien had to be forcibly subdued by police and was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

One customer, Nancy Birnbaum, told PIX11 that she first thought Chien was a performance artist, "But then he pulls out this sword with a huge 2-foot-long blade and it was dead obvious that it was a real sword. I [didn't] know if he's from ISIS or wherever the heck he's from, but I thought, 'This is the beginning of some sort of horrible headline tomorrow,'" she said.

It's unclear exactly why Chien was wielding a giant sword. A reporter for PIX11 called him "mentally disturbed," but police haven't released information about his mental state. A spokesperson for Apple confirmed the incident had taken place but had no further comment, which is understandable—there's not much else to say when a guy menaces your customers with a weapon from the 13th Century. 

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