A high schooler, a recent graduate, ISIS videos, and a protest they never should have attended
From Bucks County to Gracie Mansion: How Two Young Men Ended Up Facing Terrorism Charges
Emir Balat was three classes away from graduating high school. Ibrahim Kayumi had finished high school the previous year. On Saturday, March 7, 2026, both young men drove from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, crossed into New York from New Jersey — their vehicle clocked by an automated license plate reader less than an hour before noon — and made their way to East End Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where they threw homemade explosive devices packed with TATP, nuts, bolts, and screws into a chaotic crowd gathered outside Gracie Mansion. By Monday morning, both were in federal custody, charged with five counts including attempting to provide material support to ISIS and use of a weapon of mass destruction. Neither device exploded. Both could have. This is what we know.
Who They Are
Emir Balat, 18, attended Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. His parents were born in Turkey and became naturalized U.S. citizens in 2017. He is a U.S. citizen. His attorney, Mehdi Essmidi, described him to reporters outside court as someone who “doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing.” Balat’s behavior before and after the attack tells a different story. He carried both a Pennsylvania driver’s license and a Turkish government identification card on the day of the attack. Before being placed into an NYPD vehicle after his arrest, he made a hand gesture associated with ISIS support. Later, after being given and waiving his Miranda rights, he submitted a written statement declaring allegiance to the Islamic State. When officers asked him whether he had hoped to accomplish something like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing — in which two pressure-cooker bombs killed three people at the finish line and wounded hundreds more — he replied: “No, even bigger.” Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, is a 2024 graduate of Council Rock High School North in Newtown, Pennsylvania. His parents are originally from Afghanistan and became naturalized U.S. citizens in 2004 and 2009. The family lives in a six-bedroom home in Newtown. According to reporting by PIX11 and confirmed through the federal criminal complaint, Kayumi’s mother had filed a missing person report with local police before news broke of the Gracie Mansion incident. Kayumi had not returned home Saturday afternoon and had not called. His father, Khayer Kayumi, later told reporters that his son always checked in when he would be even five minutes late. “We didn’t know what was going on,” he said. When Kayumi was placed into an NYPD vehicle after his arrest Saturday, a bystander asked him why he had done it. Body-worn camera footage captured his reply: “ISIS.”
What They Built and How They Used It
According to the federal criminal complaint and statements by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the devices were constructed from sports drink bottles filled or partially filled with explosive material and placed inside glass jars. The jars were wrapped in black tape and packed with nuts, bolts, and screws — standard fragmentation material intended to maximize injury. A hobby fuse connected to an M80-type firework served as the ignition mechanism. Testing by the FBI’s Quantico laboratory confirmed that at least one device contained triacetone triperoxide, commonly known as TATP, or by its grimmer nickname: the “Mother of Satan.” TATP is one of the most dangerous and widely used homemade explosives in the world. It has been employed in major terrorist attacks including the 2005 London transport bombings, the 2016 Brussels attacks, and the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Sunday bombings, in which ISIS terrorists killed more than 260 people. The explosive is particularly dangerous because its precursor chemicals are inexpensive and relatively easy to obtain. According to reporting by the Daily Wire and confirmed through other outlets, Kayumi and Balat told investigators they had watched ISIS videos online and had targeted the right-wing protesters at the rally because they believed those demonstrators were disrespecting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Balat made a spontaneous statement on the way to the NYPD precinct: “This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the Prophet.”
The Scene: A Protest That Should Not Have Been a Target
The rally Balat and Kayumi chose to attack was organized by Jake Lang — a pardoned January 6 rioter and far-right influencer who had titled his event “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.” Lang’s protest drew roughly 20 participants. More than 100 counter-protesters turned out in response. The scene was chaotic before the devices were thrown: Ian McGinnis, 21, of Philadelphia — a member of Lang’s contingent — was arrested after allegedly pepper-spraying counter-protesters. Moments later, surveillance footage and body-worn cameras captured Balat lighting a device and throwing it toward the crowd. It struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from NYPD officers. Balat then ran and retrieved a second device from Kayumi, lit it, and dropped it near police before being tackled and arrested. Kayumi was arrested shortly after.
The Aftermath: FBI Raids, Court Appearances, a Family’s Horror
On Sunday, March 8, FBI agents executed search warrants at both suspects’ homes in Bucks County. A search of the suspects’ vehicle — found three blocks from the arrest site and registered to a relative of Balat — recovered a fuse, a metal can, and a written list of chemical ingredients and components that could be used to construct additional explosive devices. In federal court Monday, both men appeared in white Tyvek suits, shackled, seated at the same defense table. They said little. Neither entered a plea. A federal magistrate ordered both held without bail. A preliminary hearing is set for April 8. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted that authorities “will not allow ISIS’s poisonous, anti-American ideology to threaten this nation.” Kayumi’s attorney asked prosecutors to avoid statements that could prejudice potential jurors given the extensive publicity surrounding the case.
Questions That Will Shape This Story
The Gracie Mansion attack raises questions that will not be quickly or easily answered. How did two teenagers from Bucks County become sufficiently radicalized to build TATP devices and travel to New York City for a terrorist attack? What specific online content radicalized them? Did anyone else know? And what responsibility, if any, does the organizer of the event they targeted bear for creating the conditions in which the attack took place? PBS NewsHour’s full reporting on the charges and investigation is recommended reading. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is handling federal prosecution. The FBI’s terrorism division continues investigating the suspects’ radicalization pathway and any potential accomplices. Research from the RAND Corporation on homegrown radicalization offers a framework for understanding how young people in the United States become susceptible to extremist messaging online.
