Surveillance video appears to show a man buying a fireworks fuse in Pennsylvania shortly before authorities say he and another man brought homemade bombs to a protest outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence.
The Associated Press reported that newly released surveillance video appears to show Emir Balat, 18, buying a fuse at a Phantom Fireworks store days before police and prosecutors said he and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, attempted to set off improvised explosives at a small anti-Muslim rally near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan.
Phantom Fireworks said Balat visited a Phantom Fireworks location near his suburban Philadelphia home on March 2 and purchased 20 feet (6 meters) of consumer fireworks safety fuse. The company said Wednesday that the fuse cost $6.89, and it provided footage that it identified as showing Balat at its store in Penndel, Pennsylvania.
Police arrested Balat and Kayumi on Saturday after authorities said they attempted to ignite a pair of improvised explosives. After their arrest, law enforcement officials and a criminal complaint said the men were inspired by the Islamic State group, and they were charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction, according to the report.
Authorities also said the device construction and attempted deployment did not result in injuries. The report said journalists photographed Balat hurling a device with a lit fuse; the object contained TATP explosive and also nuts and bolts, and it extinguished itself without harming anyone, before he tried to drop a second object near police officers and run. A court complaint said Balat was tackled and arrested after that attempted escape.
Prosecutors, police and FBI officials described the protest setting as one where counterprotesters gathered near Gracie Mansion. The rally’s organizer, far-right activist Jake Lang, is described by the report as a critic of Mamdani, a Democrat and the first Muslim elected mayor of New York City. The report said prosecutors and investigators are probing possible motives and the relationship between Balat and Kayumi.
Balat and Kayumi did not enter a plea at an initial court appearance Monday, and the report said they were ordered held without bail. Balat’s lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, told reporters after the appearance that his client had “complicated stuff going on” in his personal life, without elaborating, and Essmidi said he did not believe the two young men had known each other for long. “They are not known to each other. They do not live together. They did not have friendly, family or school ties,” Essmidi said, adding, “There is no reason to believe they knew each other prior to this incident, and I don’t know how well they knew each other at the time of this incident.”
The report said Kayumi’s lawyer did not speak to reporters following a court hearing Monday and declined to comment when reached by the AP. It also said Kayumi’s mother filed a missing-person report with police Saturday, the day of the protest, saying her son had not been seen since that morning, according to the complaint.
The FBI said it has conducted multiple searches connected to the investigation. Overnight Monday, the report said FBI bomb technicians performed controlled detonations of explosive residue found during a search of a storage facility in Langhorne.
The report added that Balat was a senior at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne and had enrolled in a virtual program in September, with a school spokesperson saying he had not attended in-person classes since. Kayumi had graduated in 2024 from Council Rock High School North, according to a school spokesperson, and the report said the two men were from neighboring communities outside Philadelphia.