Hudson Yards Tenant Threatens To 'Go Crazy' With Gun At Law Firm: Suit

MIDTOWN, NY — A Hudson Yards tenant threatened to "go crazy" with a gun after his landlords asked him to stop smoking weed, claims a new lawsuit.

A tenant at 450 West 42nd, a luxury building known as the MiMA, has "menaced, harassed and threatened building staff, building management and the Plaintiff's attorneys" for months, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan civil court.

The suit seeks a restraining order, as well as $150,000 in damages for breaching a rider in his lease forbidding unsafe behavior.

The tenant "made them fearful for their safety," the suit states, and tells a narrative of an escalating series of threats starting in May, concluding with the tenant being removed from the building's law firm's Tribeca office on Oct. 18 as he shouted how he would "'go crazy' and shoot and kill indiscriminately with a Glock."

According to the suit, the man has been a tenant of one of the rent-stabilized units in the massive building on West 42nd Street and Tenth Avenue since November 2021.

Back in May, the building management sent the tenant a letter to ask him to stop smoking marijuana in his building, the suit says.

The next day, the man stormed into the management office and "engaged in a hostile confrontation" in response, demanding to know if the building's general manager had personally witnessed the smoke, denying that he had smoked and then saying that he was "qualified" to smoke medical marijuana, reads the suit.

When asked to fill out an accommodation form by building management, the suit claims that the tenant became "increasingly more loud, threatening and aggressive," prompting the manager to threaten to call the police.

Months later in September, workers came to his 27th floor apartment after the tenant submitted a work order for his fridge, but the tenant's erratic and threatening behavior caused the workers to run away, fearing their safety, the suit states.

The tenant "menacingly" pace around the workers, yelling that the fridge couldn't be repaired, and "aggressively told the workers in a threatening tone that he was a 'problem solver,'" the suit says, and told the workers multiple times that he was "'going to solve this problem right now.'"

A subsequent letter, part of which was shared in the original complaint, stated that maintenance workers would not fix — or even inspect — the fridge if the tenant was present.

The tenant went to the building's offices the next day, "aggressive, threatening and hostile from the outset," and told the people in the office that the "'shouldn't be playing' with him," the suit says.

In early October, the tenant was served a notice of termination, which also included the address of the law firm representing the building's management.

Two weeks later, the tenant showed up in person.

According to the lawsuit, the tenant entered the Tribeca office building on Oct. 18 and was so angry and aggressive at the front desk, that a security guard was compelled to accompany him to the firm's 13th story office.

A receptionist at the firm tried to figure out who he wanted to speak with — or even to learn more about his notice — but the tenant refused to answer her questions and started loudly and aggressively yelling, says the suit.

Attorneys in the office took notice and tried to figure out what was going on.

"'Mind your own business,'" the tenant reportedly said.

An attorney who asked him to stop verbally attacking the security guard, saying that he was only doing his job, was asked by the tenant if the lawyer was "'willing to take fire for [the security guard],'" the suit claims.

After 20 minutes, the tenant finally left the office, still accompanied by the same security guard.

As the pair were in the elevator together, according to the suit, "he loudly stated to building security guard that he could return with a Glock, 'go crazy,' and start shooting at everyone."

By the time police arrived, the suit states, the tenant had left.

The security guard was so "shaken" by the tenant that he took a week off of work, the suit claims.

Days later, the tenant sent a series of 23 emails to building management, "including emails containing the cryptic threat that Plaintiff should 'welcome the aggression' that was about to ensue," according to the lawsuit.

An attorney who filed the suit — from the same firm where the claimed shooting threats occurred — declined to comment on the case.

The lawsuit requests that a judge impose a restraining order on the tenant based on his deliberate and aggressive behavior, plus $150,000 in damages and legal fees.

MiMA was built as part of the residential development portion of Hudson Yards. When finished in 2012, the 670-foot-tall, $700 million building developed by Stephen Ross' The Related Companies contained a 600-room hotel, 200 luxury condos, and 620 rental apartments, 163 of which were listed as affordable due to the now-expired 421-a tax abatement program.

Amenities include a private health club, a game room, a full sized basketball court, an outdoor movie theater and retail stores.