ISIS-inspired suspects who threw explosive devices near Gracie Mansion wanted to cause more damage than Boston Marathon, NYPD says

Molly Crane-Newman, Josephine Stratman and Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News on Mar 9, 2026

Published in News & Features

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NEW YORK — The Gracie Mansion counterprotesters accused of throwing IEDs were inspired by the Islamic State terror group and wanted to cause more carnage than the Boston Marathon bombing, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Ibraham Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, were radicalized and bent on destruction, with two of the three devices linked to them containing the hallmark explosive seen in bombings around the world, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Monday press conference at Gracie Mansion.

After his arrest, Balat told investigators they wanted to launch an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which he noted caused only “three deaths,” according to a federal indictment.

After being walked in handcuffs out of the 26th Precinct, the teens were hit with a slew of charges including use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted provision of material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

“I can confirm this morning that this is being investigated as an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” Tisch said.

According to federal prosecutors, Balat wrote on a piece of paper after his arrest a misspelled message that he “pledge allegience to the Islamic State.” Kayumi meanwhile allegedly told investigators he was affiliated with ISIS and watched the terror group’s propaganda on his phone.

The suspects were busted Saturday after allegedly hurling two improvised explosive devices during a contentious clash between right-wing agitator Jake Lang, who hates Muslims, and his supporters, and pro-Muslim counterprotesters.

The homemade explosives were packed with nails, bolts and triacetone triperoxide, or TATP. That substance, known informally as “Mother of Satan,” is easy to make and and been a hallmark of various suicide bomb attacks.

A third device found in the suspects’ car on East End Avenue on Sunday was not an explosvie, Tisch said.

Tish noted that the last time an IED was used in the city was in 2017, when Akayed Ullah detonated a botched pipe bomb in a subway tunnel underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Ullah is now serving life in prison.

“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.

“But luck is never a strategy. Devices like this have the potential to cause devastating harm, which is why the NYPD does counterterrorism investigations and treats every incident of its kind with the highest level of urgency — and it is why we remain vigilant.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was at a museum in Brooklyn with his wife when the incident happened, said that while the city will not tolerate violence he will never waver in his support of any group, no matter the rhetoric, to protest.

“This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy entitled ‘Stop the Muslim Takeover of New York City,'” Mamdani said. “I’m the first Muslim mayor of New York City. Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me nor is it anything new for the 1 million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home.”

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