Police officials have identified the man who climbed Trump Tower in New York City Wednesday as 19-year-old Stephen Rogata of Great Falls, Va.
His neighbors in Virginia knew him as Michael Joseph Ryan.
People on Twitter started calling the man Steve from Virginia, after media reports suggested he had identified himself to police before he climbed the building.
Ryan may have worked for the Fairfax County Republican Committee, according to his Facebook page.
The committee's executive director released the following statement:
Our office has received a number of media inquiries concerning an individual named Michael Ryan, who is alleged to have attempted to climb the Trump Tower in New York City on August 10, 2016.The inquiries suggest that at one time Mr. Ryan was an intern with the Fairfax County Republican Committee (FCRC). It is our understanding that a Michael Ryan was an intern with our organization some time before 2014, but we cannot confirm that it was the same individual. There is nobody of that name currently employed by the FCRC as an intern or in any other capacity, nor do we have a member by that
name.
He told the NYPD he was climbing the building owned by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to get an audience with him.
He was apprehended around 6:30 p.m., three hours after the stunt began. NYPD crews had to pull him inside the building through an open window. He climbed to about the 21st floor of the building.
According to CBS New York, he's been charged with reckless endangerment and criminal trespassing.
He was undergoing a psychological evaluation at Bellevue Hospital in NYC, but it is not known if he is still there as of late Thursday.
WUSA9 reached out to family members at Ryan's home in Great Falls, but they did not respond.
But, a neighbor did call Ryan a nice man.
"They were the model family, if you could see parents that know how to take care of children, they know how. They were the best parents that I ever seen," AJ Steger said.
Ryan is the oldest of four children - one girl and three boys.
"We just hurt for his family. I don't understand," Steger added.
He said Ryan attended Langley High School in Fairfax County. Fairfax County Public Schools said a Michael Ryan did attend the school, but the system did not have information as to whether he graduated.
Trump responded to the incident with a tweet:
Great job today by the NYPD in protecting the people and saving the climber.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2016
