Teen With Newtown Ties Arrested In Connection With IED Attack In NYC

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — A 19-year-old teenager with Newtown Township ties was taken into custody over the weekend in connection with an IED thrown during an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City on Saturday.

The man, Ibrahim Kayumi, a 2024 Council Rock graduate, and another Bucks County resident, Amir Balat, an 18-year-old Neshaminy High School student from Middletown, were arrested following the incident that happened around 12:30 p.m., New York City Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said.

Tisch said Balat is accused of lighting a pair of potentially explosive devices and throwing one of them at police while Kayumi is accused of handing a second device to Balat as Balat ran down East End Avenue toward 86th Street, she said.

The incident happened as tensions escalated between protesters taking part in an anti-Islam demonstration led by conservative influencer Jake Lang that drew about 20 people, and a counterprotest that drew about 125 people, in the area of East End Avenue and 87th Street, Tisch said.

Gracie Mansion is the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Tisch said she had been in touch with Mamdani but it was not clear if he and his wife were home at the time.

Saturday's protests took place during the holy month of Ramadan, observed by Muslims around the world. Mamdani is New York City's first Muslim mayor.

The New York Daily News reported that pro- and anti-Muslim demonstrators openly shoved and kicked each other during Saturday's protest, which began with Lang holding a pig roast at a cafe on East 88th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan, an apparent jab at practicing Muslims who aren't allowed to eat pork.

The first clash between the two groups happened when one of the anti-Islam protesters sprayed counterprotesters with pepper spray, Tisch said. That person was arrested, but Tisch did not release the person's name.

Some time later as tensions worsened, Balat pulled out the device, which Tisch described as a jar wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts and screws and a hobby fuse that could be lit, about the size of a football. Balat lit the fuse and threw the item toward protesters but it hit a police barricade and extinguished itself, she said.

Balat then took off running down East End Avenue and Kayumi handed him a second device that Balat lit, then dropped between 87th and 86th streets, Tisch said. He was chased and apprehended, she said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was on the scene in Bucks County on Sunday afternoon and evening, conducting raids at two homes, one in Middletown Township and the other in Newtown Township.

The Newtown Township Police Department issued an advisory around 6:30 p.m. saying that members of the FBI were on the scene of a home in the area of Stoopville Road and Clymer Street in the township, but there was no active threat to the community.

The FBI and Middletown Township Police were also at a home on Tina Drive in Middletown Township, conducting a court-authorized search warrant.

U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said federal authorities were in contact with his office regarding the investigation.

"Earlier (Sunday) evening, federal and local law enforcement conducted investigative activity in Middletown Township and Newtown related to an incident that occurred near the New York City Mayor’s official residence," Fitzpatrick said.

The congressman said that preliminary analysis confirmed that at least one of the devices deployed during the incident was an improvised explosive device (IED). Additional testing remains underway.

Fitzpatrick said there was no threat to the Lower Bucks County community and that the situation remains under the control of law enforcement.

He said his office is working with federal and local officials and will remain engaged as the situation develops.

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