The tiger was brought to an abandoned Packard plant in Detroit by a British photographer for a shoot. Both a spokesman for the police and for the Packard Plant Project have said that the inclusion of the big cat hadn’t been cleared beforehand.
Apparently the photographer also brought a bobcat and a wolf with him.
The shoot was shut down, but the tiger managed to escape from its handlers, and took refuge in a stairwell. The man with the weed whacker was there to somehow coax the animal out with the garden tool’s loud noise.
The weed whacker did not coax the tiger out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7McQczs9qMo
The animal was eventually recaptured.