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The Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested two people over hurling an IED at New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani's Gracie Mansion during a rowdy weekend protest. Both arrested individuals are children of immigrants.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters on Saturday that an anti-Islam protest was organised by people associated with Jake Lang, a pardoned January 6 rioter and far-right influencer. A group of counter-protesters, numbering more than 100, also gathered, and two young men from Pennsylvania, angered by the anti-Islam protest, brought the homemade bombs to the gathering, intending to cause harm, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
Both of the individuals were identified as 18-year-olf Emir Balat, of Pennsylvania and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi. Balat’s parents were born in Turkey and were naturalised as US citizens in 2017. Balat is a US citizen and has been living with his family in a large two-storey home in Pennsylvania. A woman at the residence confirmed to CBS Philadelphia that Balat lived at the house.Kayumi’s parents are originally from Afghanistan. They became naturalised US citizens in 2004 and 2009.
It was unclear if Kayumi was living with them at the time of the incident on Saturday.Investigators were looking into the overseas travel for Balat and Kayumi. Balat left the US for several months and travelled to Istanbul from May 6 to August 26, 2025. He most recently travelled back to the US from Turkey in January of this year. Meanwhile, Kayumi travelled to Istanbul for several weeks in July and August 2024 and to Saudi Arabia in late March of that year.The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has taken the lead and launched a terrorism investigation. Search warrants were expected to be executed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, sources told CBS News.In a statement on Sunday, Mamdani specifically mentioned Lang and said the protest outside Gracie Mansion was "rooted in bigotry and racism" and has no place in New York City."It is an affront to our city's values and the unity that defines who we are," he said.He did not name the two men who were arrested for the IEDs. Instead, he said, "The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are."
