Two men from Pennsylvania drove to New York City on a Saturday, brought homemade bombs to a protest outside Gracie Mansion, and threw them. They were not sophisticated actors. They were, by all accounts, young, angry, and radicalized by what they had been reading online.
That is, in its own way, the most unsettling part of the story.
“I can confirm this morning that this is being investigated as an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
She said it plainly, without hedging, which was the right thing to do.
The devices were not smoke bombs. They were not pranks. The FBI confirmed both were improvised explosive devices — bottles packed with explosive material, encased in glass jars, surrounded by nuts and bolts, fused with what appeared to be an M80-type firework.
According to CBS News, they contained TATP, a volatile explosive favored by terrorist operatives worldwide. The FBI’s Quantico lab confirmed it. They could have killed people. They nearly did.
A third suspicious device was found Sunday in a vehicle three blocks away on East End Avenue. Buildings in the vicinity were evacuated.
ISIS, al Qaeda, and pro-Iranian groups have intensified their online recruiting since the war with Iran began just over a week ago. The effort had been building for eighteen months. It accelerated with the conflict.
An intelligence source noted the timing: Ramadan, a period when the community has historically seen susceptible young men feel, in their distorted understanding, justified to act.
Federal terrorism charges are pending. The investigation continues.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani provided an update on the story Monday morning.
Two men, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, traveled from Pennsylvania and attempted to bring violence in New York City. They are suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism. There is video of these two individuals throwing two devices towards the protest. The police department has determined that these were improvised explosive devices made to injure, maim, or worse.”
“As NYPD continued their investigation yesterday, they found a third suspicious device in a vehicle on East End between 81st and 82nd Street. Let me say this plainly: Anyone who comes to New York City to bring violence in our streets will be held accountable.”
This story is developing…
Watch the clip below:
TERROR THREAT: NYPD probes a potential ISIS-inspired plot at the mayor's mansion after a third suspicious device is discovered.
The Pennsylvania pair in custody—Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi—are reportedly the children of naturalized U.S. citizens from Turkey and Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/kPDyufmptK
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) March 9, 2026
