Federal charges filed after TATP devices thrown at protest outside NYC mayor’s home
Two Men Charged With Terrorism After Explosives Thrown at Gracie Mansion Protest
New York City woke on Monday, March 9, 2026, to the alarming news that two young men from Pennsylvania had been arrested and charged with federal terrorism offenses after throwing improvised explosive devices during a chaotic protest outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor. The suspects, 18-year-old Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, face a five-count federal complaint that includes attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, use of a weapon of mass destruction, and transportation of explosive materials. Both were held without bail following their arraignment on Monday.
What Happened at the Upper East Side Protest
The incident unfolded on the afternoon of Saturday, March 7, 2026, when a small anti-Muslim rally organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang, a pardoned January 6 rioter, drew roughly 20 participants outside Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side. Lang’s event, titled “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City,” attracted more than 100 counter-protesters who turned out under the banner “Run the Nazis Out of New York City: Stand Against Hate.” Tensions escalated just after noon. A member of Lang’s group, identified as 21-year-old Ian McGuiness of Philadelphia, allegedly used pepper spray on counter-protesters and was arrested. Moments later, Balat was captured on video lighting a homemade explosive device and throwing it toward the protest area. Witnesses told police they saw flames and smoke as the object traveled through the air before striking a barrier in a crosswalk, just a few feet from officers, and extinguishing itself. Balat then allegedly retrieved a second device from Kayumi, lit it, and ran before dropping it on the west side of East End Avenue. Both men were quickly detained by officers on the scene. A third suspicious device was found the following day, Sunday, March 8, inside a vehicle on East End Avenue about three blocks from the mansion. The NYPD bomb squad removed it for testing; it did not test positive for explosive material.
TATP: A Highly Dangerous Homemade Explosive
Testing by the NYPD bomb squad confirmed that at least one of the devices deployed by Balat and Kayumi contained triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP, a volatile homemade explosive that has been used in terrorist attacks around the world. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the devices as sports drink bottles filled with explosive material and placed inside glass jars, wrapped in black tape and packed with nuts, bolts, and screws. “TATP is a dangerous and highly volatile homemade explosive that has been used in IED attacks around the world,” Tisch told reporters at a Monday morning press conference at Gracie Mansion alongside Mayor Mamdani. According to the federal criminal complaint, as Kayumi was placed into an NYPD vehicle after his arrest, a bystander asked him why he had done it. Body-worn camera footage captured his response: “ISIS.” Balat later waived his Miranda rights and wrote a statement declaring allegiance to the Islamic State. When officers asked Balat whether he was aiming to do something like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, he reportedly replied, “No, even bigger.”
Mayor and Commissioner Respond
Mayor Mamdani, who was not at Gracie Mansion at the time of the protest — he and his wife, Rama Duwaji, were at the New York Sign Museum in Brooklyn — addressed the city at a press conference Monday. “They traveled from Pennsylvania and attempted to bring violence to New York City,” Mamdani said of Balat and Kayumi. He and Tisch praised NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro, who ran toward the devices to protect others. In a statement released Sunday, Mamdani had already condemned Lang’s rally. “Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism. Such hate has no place in New York City,” he wrote. “What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable.” Tisch confirmed that there is no evidence linking the suspects to the ongoing conflict in Iran, and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has taken the lead on the investigation, working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Attorney General Pam Bondi commented that authorities “will not allow ISIS’s poisonous, anti-American ideology to threaten this nation.”
A City Navigates a New Threat Landscape
The Gracie Mansion incident reflects a broader and troubling convergence: an organized far-right rally triggering a violent response from individuals who, investigators say, were radicalized by online ISIS propaganda. The intersection of Islamophobia, domestic terrorism, and foreign extremist influence represents a complex security challenge for the city. Legal scholars and civil liberties advocates have pointed out that the situation involves at least three separate strands of political violence: far-right anti-Muslim hate organizing, ISIS-inspired radicalization, and the broader polarization of public protest. PBS NewsHour’s full coverage of the incident provides detailed background on the charges. Mamdani has governed as NYC’s first Muslim mayor since taking office in January 2026, and advocates note that Islamophobic threats against him began during his campaign and have continued into his administration. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is leading federal prosecution. Civil rights groups including the Council on American-Islamic Relations have called on federal officials to treat Islamophobic organizing as a serious threat, alongside the investigation of the ISIS-inspired attack. CAIR’s resources on anti-Muslim bias document the national trend of rising Islamophobia. Meanwhile, the FBI’s terrorism division continues its investigation into both suspects and their radicalization paths. The outcome of federal prosecution, as well as broader questions about online extremism and the responsibilities of far-right influencers who organize inflammatory public events, will shape this story for months to come.
