FBI terror probe after explosives ‘thrown outside’ NYC mayor home | US | News
Two people are in custody for their alleged involvement in a shootout outside Gracie Mansion (Image: Anatolia, via Getty Images)
The FBI is investigating the incident outside Zohran Mamdani’s New York home as a potential act of terrorism after one of the suspects mentioned ISIS during an interview with police.
Two men are in custody for their alleged involvement in a confrontation outside Gracie Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side during a “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” event organized by far-right activist Jake Lang.
The lightly attended event attracted a much larger group of counter-protesters, including one person who threw a smoky object filled with nuts, bolts, screws and a “hobby wick” into the crowd, according to police. No explosions or injuries were reported from the devices.
Six people were arrested following Saturday’s protest.
In a social media post on Sunday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the department’s bomb squad determined the object was not a fake device or smoke grenade but “an improvised explosive device that can cause serious injury or death.”
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He added that further analysis, including a second device, will be carried out.
“NYPD is working with our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI through our Joint Terrorism Task Force on this investigation,” he wrote.
Later Sunday, new details emerged from law enforcement sources who spoke to NBC news’ Tom Winter. Winter stated that this was considered a “possible act of terrorism” because “one of the suspects directly referenced ISIS in his statements to law enforcement.”
An investigation into Saturday’s protests, where suspicious devices were thrown, is ongoing. On Sunday afternoon, the NYPD Bomb Squad deployed a robot several blocks from the scene of the protest to inspect a car believed to belong to the suspects, both from Pennsylvania, as reported by NBC News.
Investigation into Saturday’s protests in which suspicious devices were thrown continues (Image: Getty Images)
The official New York City Police Department
Continuing, the NYPD said: “NYPD officers have frozen the area around the vehicle and the Bomb Squad is conducting limited evacuations from nearby buildings while they assess and remove the device.”
The NYPD has issued an advisory urging New Yorkers to stay away from the East End street between 81st Street and 82nd Street in Manhattan.
What happened in the restructuring?
About 20 organizers “associated with far-right provocateur Jake Lang” attended the anti-Muslim demonstration outside Gracie Mansion, while about 120 counter-protesters also gathered, Tisch told reporters Saturday.
He explained that an 18-year-old counterprotester threw the suspicious device.
Tisch described the incident: “Witnesses reported flames and smoke traveling through the air, then hitting a barrier and extinguishing itself a few feet away from the officers.”
Both suspects were arrested. Four more people were detained, one of whom used pepper spray, while others were arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic, Tisch said.
An FBI spokesperson told NBC News that the two men detained in the case were taken into federal custody and were being interviewed by federal agents and the NYPD.
Mamdani, who is a Muslim, was at the residence where her husband Rama Duwaji also resided at the time of the incident.
Lang was pardoned on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
It has been responsible for similar rallies in recent weeks, including an anti-immigration protest in Minneapolis in January.
Mamdani released a statement about X regarding the incident on Sunday, thanking law enforcement for acting quickly on Saturday and working closely with Tisch on the case. “Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest based on bigotry and racism in front of Gracie Mansion.
Such hatred has no place in New York. This is an insult to the values of our city and the unity that defines who we are,” Mamdani stated.
He continued: “What happened next was even more disturbing. Violence during a protest is never acceptable. Any attempt to use explosives to harm others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.”
