Two Pennsylvania Teens Face Federal Terror Charges in ISIS-Inspired TATP Bomb Plot Outside NYC Mayor Mamdani's Gracie Mansion
Two young men from suburban Pennsylvania showed up at a protest outside New York City's mayoral residence Saturday and threw homemade bombs into the crowd. Three days later, they're facing decades in federal prison — and investigators are racing to determine whether ISIS directed them or whether the internet did the job alone.
What Happened Outside Gracie Mansion
Two opposing protests converged on Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side Saturday morning. The first, led by conservative influencer Jake Lang, was titled "Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer" and drew roughly 20 participants. The counterprotest — "Drive the Nazis Out of New York" — peaked at about 125 demonstrators. Police separated the groups into designated areas when both kicked off around 11 a.m.
Tensions broke within ninety minutes. Around 12:15 p.m., a protester from Lang's group pepper-sprayed counterprotesters and was arrested. Twenty minutes later, Emir Balat threw an ignited device toward the protest area, which landed on a crosswalk. Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke as it traveled through the air before it struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from police officers.
He wasn't done. Balat then retrieved a second device from his co-conspirator Ibrahim Kayumi, lit it, started to run and dropped it on the street where several officers were standing before police tackled and arrested him. Kayumi was also arrested at the scene.
The Bombs Were Real
The devices consisted of a sports drink bottle filled with explosive material, set inside glass jars and surrounded by nuts, bolts and screws — fragmentation designed to shred anyone nearby. The fuse was connected to an M80-type firework.
Neither detonated as intended. That fact, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch made clear, was luck — not design.
"We were fortunate that the devices used this weekend did not cause the kind of harm that they were certainly capable of causing," Tisch said Monday. Preliminary testing confirmed at least one contained TATP — triacetone triperoxide, a highly volatile homemade explosive used in terrorist attacks worldwide and sometimes called the "Mother of Satan." Bomb technicians from the NYPD and FBI performed controlled detonations on the devices, which produced a "significant explosion," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.
The FBI also executed a search warrant at a Public Storage facility in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, where agents recovered additional explosive materials and conducted controlled detonations overnight.
Federal Charges and the ISIS Connection
Balat, 18, and Kayumi, 19 — both from Bucks County — are now charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, use of a weapon of mass destruction, and related federal offenses. If convicted, each faces decades in prison.
Investigators are reviewing the pair's internet and social media activity to determine whether they were directly recruited by ISIS or radicalized online and acting independently. Both had no prior criminal records and attended Pennsylvania high schools.
Their travel history is drawing scrutiny. Balat left the U.S. for several months, traveling to Istanbul from May through late August 2025, and returned from Turkey in January 2026. Kayumi traveled to Istanbul for several weeks in mid-2024 and to Saudi Arabia in late March of that year.
ISIS, al-Qaeda and pro-Iranian groups have intensified online recruiting since the U.S.-Iran war began roughly ten days ago. An intelligence source noted the attack took place during Ramadan, a period when analysts have observed that radicalized young men prone to violence feel particularly justified in acting.
Mamdani Was Inside the Mansion
Mayor Zohran Mamdani — New York City's first Muslim mayor — was inside Gracie Mansion when the devices were thrown. He was not harmed. He condemned both events: Lang's protest as rooted in bigotry, and the bombing attempt as "reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are."
In a separate statement, Mamdani specifically called out Lang — a pardoned January 6 rioter who brought a cooked pig to the protest, a deliberate provocation targeting Islam's dietary prohibitions — describing him as a white supremacist whose demonstration had no place in New York City.
What the Investigation Looks Like Now
Balat appeared in federal court Monday afternoon. A third device was found Sunday in a car near Gracie Mansion registered to Balat's family. That device tested negative for explosive material.
Federal authorities said had the IEDs functioned as the suspects allegedly intended, they could have caused death and widespread destruction. One court document cited Balat expressing a desire for an attack "even bigger" than the Boston Marathon bombing.
Tisch confirmed the full case is being prosecuted in Manhattan federal court.
