NEW YORK (AP) — An arson charge was lodged Tuesday against a former Army soldier who was detained without bail after a prosecutor said he gave investigators a lengthy confession detailing his fiery attack on a federal building in Manhattan that houses immigration court proceedings.
Andrew Arrabaca, 43, was charged in Manhattan federal court a day after the attack at 26 Federal Plaza that injured three people when authorities say he set off a sidewalk
fire, ignited fireworks and fired a pellet gun before security officers subdued him. The building is two blocks from the courthouse.
Arrabaca, a U.S. citizen, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky, who immediately conducted a bail hearing.
Prosecutor Samantha Fry urged detention without bail, saying Arrabaca is a danger to the community and a flight risk. She said Arrabaca, while living in his car, had planned the attack since January, buying supplies in upstate New York including weapons such as two hatchets, a mallet, a hammer and fireworks.
She noted that only a few people were injured, but said "this attack could have ended much more tragically” at a building where hundreds of federal employees work. She said the evidence was overwhelming on a charge that carries a potential mandatory minimum of seven years in prison.
Defense lawyer Jennifer Brown urged that Arrabaca should be released into a Veterans Health Administration locked-ward psychiatric evaluation program, saying that he has no criminal history and has long been a resident of New York with a long history of employment until recently.
“There’s an underlying mental health issue going on here,” she said.
Brown said Arrabaca intended to damage property rather than people. Fry insisted that Arrabaca, during his lengthy confession to investigators, detailed what he did and why and “was aware people could be hurt and was willing to accept this risk.”
The building has been a hub of protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
At a news conference Monday, authorities said that Arrabaca, wearing a military-style helmet, dragged a cart featuring a sign that said “ICE Off Our Streets” up to an employee entrance at the building before igniting a large firework. He then fired several airsoft rifle pellets at the building and ignited gasoline he'd spread on the sidewalk.
He was subdued and apprehended by two Federal Protective Service officers and a security contractor, according to James Barnacle, who leads the FBI’s New York field office.
Barnacle said Arrabaca, formerly a resident of Harlem and Poughkeepsie, made “anti-government and anti-American statements” as he was arrested and told investigators that he didn't care if he killed people.
Although the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating, Barnacle did not label the attack terrorism.
Two government employees and a civilian who was going to immigration court were injured, along with a bystander who was grazed by the fireworks, authorities said, though only one person was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Barnacle said Arrabaca, who repaired Patriot missile systems in the Army from 2001 to 2005, derided ICE with profanities during his arrest. In addition to the pellet gun, Barnacle said, Arrabaca had two axes, three fixed-blade knives, a hammer and a machete. An Army spokesperson said Arrabaca had no deployments and left the Army as a specialist, including a one-year stint in the Army National Guard-New York.
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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
