{"id":646343,"date":"2026-03-10T20:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/646343\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T20:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:21:13","slug":"fbi-investigates-men-charged-with-lighting-bombs-at-nyc-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/646343\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI investigates men charged with lighting bombs at NYC protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The FBI said it found explosive residue in a Pennsylvania storage unit as part of an investigation into two men charged with bringing homemade bombs to a protest<\/a> outside the home of New York City\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, told police after their arrests Saturday that they were inspired by the Islamic State group,<\/a> according to law enforcement officials and a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

The men live in the Philadelphia suburbs and traveled together to New York City to carry out the attack near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan, officials said. In response to police questioning, Balat said he hoped to accomplishing something \u201ceven bigger\u201d than the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people, the complaint said. <\/p>\n

Overnight Monday, FBI bomb technicians conducted controlled detonations of the explosive residue found at a public storage facility in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, near where Balat\u2019s family lives, the agency said.<\/p>\n

The explosion resulted in \u201cseveral loud bangs,\u201d the Middletown Township Police Department said Tuesday, adding that there was no threat to residents. The FBI said Monday that it had conducted multiple searches in connection with the investigation.<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday called the attack \u201cabsolutely despicable\u201d and said government investigators and prosecutors won\u2019t rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice.<\/p>\n

Much remains unknown about the motives, planning and relationship between Balat and Kayumi.<\/p>\n

Court documents show Emir Balat\u2019s father, Selahattin Balat, is a native of Turkey who was granted asylum in the United States in 1998 and later became a U.S. citizen. In a 2009 bankruptcy filing, he listed his occupation as painter and said he had three children.<\/p>\n

Emir Balat is a senior at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne. A school spokesperson said he enrolled in a virtual program in September and had not attended in-person classes since.<\/p>\n

His lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, said his client had \u201ccomplicated stuff going on\u201d in his personal life, without elaborating. Essmidi said he did not believe the two young men had known each other for long.<\/p>\n

Kayumi is from Newtown, about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) north of Langhorne. He graduated in 2024 from Council Rock High School North, according to a school spokesperson.<\/p>\n

His attorney did not speak to reporters following a court hearing Monday and declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors, police and FBI officials say Balat and Kayumi drove to New York City on Saturday and joined a throng of counterprotesters at a small, anti-Muslim rally organized by the far-right Christian nationalist Jake Lang.<\/p>\n

Journalists photographed Balat hurling a device, smoking with a lit fuse, that was later found to contain the explosive TATP. The object, which also contained nuts and bolts, extinguished itself without harming anyone. <\/p>\n

Balat then dropped a second object near some police officers and tried to run, but was tackled and arrested, according to a court complaint.<\/p>\n

Balat and Kayumi were being held without bail after their court appearance on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction. They were not required to enter a plea.<\/p>\n

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday there were no indications that the attack was connected to the ongoing war in Iran<\/a>, but said the city remained on a heightened state of alert.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday afternoon, a park near the mayor\u2019s residence was evacuated and several surrounding streets were closed as police investigated reports of a \u201csuspicious device.\u201d <\/p>\n

The object was later determined to be non-threatening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The FBI said it found explosive residue in a Pennsylvania storage unit as part…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":646344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[396,356,57,94845,51,273742,63644,272476,12939,8133,2936,125878,405,403,50,5217,2830,402,2068,52,51507,61,107],"class_list":["post-646343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bombings","tag-courts","tag-general-news","tag-gracie-mansion","tag-headlines","tag-ibrahim-kayumi","tag-islamic-state-group","tag-jake-lang","tag-jessica-tisch","tag-karoline-leavitt","tag-law-enforcement","tag-new-orleans-truck-attack","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-top-stories","tag-u-s-federal-bureau-of-investigation","tag-u-s-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116206743547278612","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}