New video shows a suspect allegedly shoot off fireworks and fire a pellet gun before pouring gasoline and lighting a large fire outside a federal office building in lower Manhattan.
The new video obtained by NBC New York came from a surveillance camera that appears to capture the entire fiery attack. It begins with the suspect, 43-year-old Andrew Arrabaca, appearing to pull his cart along the sidewalk in front of the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza Monday morning. He set up a large fireworks dispenser, capable of rapidly firing off dozens of rockets.
Moments later, he is seen on video igniting the fireworks and setting off numerous flares, according to officials. The tube shooting off the projectiles toppled over.
As the fireworks can be seen going off in all directions along Worth Street, some people in the distance can be seen taking cover. Meanwhile, two others seem to walk right by, barely batting an eye — a truly Olympic level of minding your business that would perhaps only be seen in New York, where residents are used to coolly ignoring outlandish things happening in front of them.
Then Arrabaca appears to take out a pellet gun rifle and allegedly fired it down the block at pedestrians, sending all running for cover. That’s when 911 calls started to come in, the NYPD said.
As the video continues, Arrabaca can be seen with what investigators said was a cannister of gasoline. He ran to the steps leading to the entrance of the federal building, pours the gasoline and a fire erupts. As the flames continued to burn, feds say Arrabaca returned to his cart to apparently grab additional fireworks. He then hurled additional devices into the flames to try to set off more small explosions, prosecutors allege.
The first security and police officers arrived at that time. A guard grabbed Arrabaca and began to struggle with him. Other officers ran up the block and helped pin the suspect down, all as the fire raged.
Three people sustained minor injuries, including a person who had an immigration court hearing at the building. According to federal prosecutors, Arrabaca plotted the attack for months and considered striking other New York City targets.
After he was arrested, officials said Arrabaca had additional fireworks and weapons — such as knives, axes, a hammer and a machete — with him. The response by security and police ended the threat.
Arrabaca, a former U.S. Army and National Guard soldier, faces federal arson-related charges. His defense attorney suggested that he be sent to a locked ward at a Veterans Health Administration facility for a mental health evaluation, but he was ordered jailed then evaluated there.
The building houses offices for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and other federal agencies and has been a hub of protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Officials said Arrabaca was toting an anti-ICE sign and made “anti-government and anti-American statements” as he was being arrested.
He went to upstate New York to buy weapons and Pennsylvania to buy fireworks, prosecutors said. At Arrabaca’s hearing Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky said he was “quite clearly ill.”
Arrabaca was living in his car and slept in a park the night before the attack, prosecutors said. In 2020, he was prescribed medication for a mental health condition, but he stopped taking it about a year later.
Arrabaca repaired Patriot missile systems while in the Army from 2001 to 2004. He also served a year in the New York Army National Guard. He had no deployments and left the Army as a specialist, an Army spokesperson said.
Associated Press reporter Safiyah Riddle contributed to this report.