NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI found explosive materials in a Pennsylvania storage unit after two men were charged with bringing homemade bombs to a protest outside the home of New York City’s mayor, authorities said Tuesday.
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 law enforcement officials and a criminal complaint.
Both men are from the Philadelphia suburbs.
Much remained undisclosed about their motives, how much they planned and how they knew each other. Tests were being performed on some of the explosive devices recovered at the scene.
The FBI said Monday that it had conducted multiple searches in connection with the investigation. The police department in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, said Tuesday that the FBI conducted controlled detonations of explosive materials found at a Public Storage facility in Langhorne, near where Balat’s family lives. Kayumi is from Newtown, about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) north of Langhorne.
Residents “may have heard several loud bangs during the overnight hours,” the police department said in a Facebook post. “While the noise may have been startling to some residents, there was no danger to the public at any time.”
Balat’s lawyer has portrayed him as a confused teenager who didn’t know what he was doing.
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 the far-right Christian nationalist Jake Lang.
Journalists photographed Balat hurling a device, smoking with a lit fuse, that was later found to contain the explosive TATP. The object, which also contained nuts and bolts, extinguished itself without harming anyone.
Balat then dropped a second object near some police officers and tried to run, but was tackled and arrested, according to a court complaint.
Balat and Kayumi were being held without bail after a court appearance Monday on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction. They were not required to enter a plea.
Balat’s lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, said outside court that his client, a high school senior, had “complicated stuff going on” in his personal life.
“I believe he’s 18 and he doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing,” Essmidi said. He added that he didn’t believe Balat and Kayumi had known each other for long.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday there were no indications that the attack was connected to the ongoing war in Iran.
After Balat was arrested, police officers asked him whether he was aiming to accomplish something akin to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people.
“No, even bigger,” Balat replied, according to a criminal complaint.
