The FBI discovered explosive materials in a Pennsylvania storage unit connected to two men charged with bringing homemade bombs to a protest near the New York City mayor's residence, authorities said Tuesday.
Agents conducted controlled detonations at a Public Storage facility in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, rattling nearby residents with what the Middletown Township police department described as loud bangs during the overnight hours.
Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, told investigators after their arrests Saturday near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan that they were inspired by the Islamic State group. According to Newsmax, they face charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.
Both are being held without bail.
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 Christian nationalist Jake Lang. What happened next was not a scuffle or a heated exchange. It was an attempted bombing on American soil.
Journalists photographed Balat hurling a device, smoking with a lit fuse, that was later found to contain TATP, the same peroxide-based explosive used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people. Balat then dropped a second object near some police officers and tried to run, but was tackled and arrested, according to a court complaint.
When asked about his intentions, Balat reportedly said: "No, even bigger." The phrase speaks for itself.
The Langhorne storage unit adds a chilling dimension. This was not a one-off act of rage. You don't rent a storage unit for impulse. The FBI said Monday it had conducted multiple searches in connection with the investigation, and the controlled detonations at the facility suggest what was found there posed enough risk that it couldn't simply be removed.
The Middletown Township police department posted on Facebook to reassure residents:
"While the noise may have been startling to some residents, there was no danger to the public at any time."
Kayumi is from Newtown, about four miles north of Langhorne. The proximity between his residence and the storage facility is notable, though much about the pair's relationship and planning remains undisclosed.
Balat's lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, wasted no time constructing a narrative outside the courthouse. He described "complicated stuff going on" and offered this: "I believe he's 18 and he doesn't have any idea what he's doing."
An 18-year-old high school senior who synthesized TATP, drove to New York City, hurled a lit explosive device at a crowd near the mayor's residence, dropped a second one near police officers, and told investigators he wanted something "even bigger" than what he managed to pull off. That's the person who supposedly had no idea what he was doing.
Essmidi also said he didn't believe Balat and Kayumi had known each other for long. Whether that's true or legally relevant remains to be seen, but it does nothing to address the explosive materials sitting in a rented storage unit in suburban Pennsylvania.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday there were no indications the attack was connected to the ongoing war in Iran. That narrows one lane of inquiry but opens others. Two teenagers, allegedly self-radicalized by ISIS propaganda, manufactured sophisticated explosives, stockpiled materials across state lines, and executed an attack in the heart of Manhattan.
Authorities have acknowledged that much remains undisclosed about their motives, the extent of their planning, and how they knew each other. Tests are still being performed on explosive devices recovered at the scene.
Every few years, the country absorbs another story like this and processes it through the same exhausting cycle. There's shock, then a scramble to explain away the ideology, then quiet. The word "radicalization" gets deployed as though it's a weather event, something that just happens to people, with no agency and no accountability baked into the systems that allow it to flourish.
These two men were not products of American foreign policy grievance or socioeconomic despair. They told investigators, plainly, they were inspired by the Islamic State. At some point, the country has to take self-declared terrorists at their word.
An 18-year-old built bombs. He threw one into a crowd. He had more waiting in a storage locker thirty miles away. And his lawyer says he didn't know what he was doing.
The bombs knew exactly what they were doing.