Two men have been arrested in connection with throwing a pair of “suspicious devices” during protests outside of Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, on Saturday, March 7. The incident took place during an anti-Islam demonstration led by conservative influencer Jake Lang and a counterprotest, according to NBC News.
Following the incident, Emir Balat, 18, and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi were arrested.
Who are Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi?
Balat and Kayumi are both from Pennsylvania, according to CBS News. However, they have yet to be charged.
On Sunday, March 8, FBI agents searched the homes of Kayumi in Newtown and Balat in Langhorne, according to 6 ABC. The searches were carried out after the NYPD said at least one improvised explosive device was deployed during the protest. Additional devices are now under investigation.
"Nothing like this happens around here. So it's pretty scary," Newtown neighbor Pamela Pulsinelli said.
{{/usCountry}}"Nothing like this happens around here. So it's pretty scary," Newtown neighbor Pamela Pulsinelli said.
{{/usCountry}}Residents said that they saw agents detain a male outside Kayumi's home. "Coming out with his arms up and being handcuffed and put into the van. Insane," Pulsinelli said.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has now taken the lead and launched a terrorism investigation.
What we know about the ‘suspicious devices’
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has shared an update after the arrests, saying after the devices were thrown that it was not a hoax, and could have caused “serious injury or death.” A bomb squad examined the devices, which were described as being smaller than a football. They looked like a jar wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts, screws and a hobby fuse, Tisch said.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the devices consisted of a sports drink bottle filled or partially filled with explosive material, set inside glass jars and surrounded by fragmentation, or nuts and bolts. The fuse was reportedly connected to an M80-type firework.
Two sources told the outlet that the IEDs contained triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, which is a volatile explosive material. It is often synthesized from acetone and hydrogen peroxide, and appears as a white crystalline powder.
The NYPD said that another suspicious device was found Sunday in a vehicle on East End Avenue about three blocks south of the park where Gracie Mansion is located. This prompted a "limited evacuations of buildings in the vicinity while the Bomb Squad assesses and removes the device."
The device was then removed for further testing, the NYPD later confirmed.