The FBI's Evidence Response Team on Sunday searched two homes in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, belonging to the families of Ibraham Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, after the pair were arrested for allegedly throwing homemade improvised explosive devices outside Gracie Mansion during a Saturday afternoon protest in New York City.
The FBI and NYPD confirmed that the two devices recovered near the mayor's residence were IEDs, meaning bombs designed to detonate outside a conventional military context. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF, announced it would take the lead on investigative work. The bureau posted a statement on X Sunday night.
FBI New York continues to be engaged with NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners actively investigating the two devices thrown outside Gracie Mansion yesterday afternoon.
The JTTF confirmed it would be conducting interviews, reviewing videos, collecting evidence, and pursuing all leads. No formal charges have been publicly announced, and no court filings or charging documents have been disclosed as of this writing.
Armed FBI agents were filmed entering Kayumi's home in Newtown, Pennsylvania, near the New Jersey border. The property is a six-bedroom house valued at $2.25 million. It has not been publicly confirmed whether the property is owned or rented by Kayumi's family. Sources told Fox News that Kayumi's parents immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan and were naturalized in the 2000s.
Photos from the scene at Balat's home in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a few miles south of Newtown in the Philadelphia suburbs, showed agents removing items that appeared to be computer parts. According to a Fox News report, Balat's parents are Turkish nationals who became naturalized U.S. citizens in 2017.
The alleged devices were described as sports drink bottles packed with TATP, a volatile explosive compound that has been linked to high-profile attacks around the world for more than a decade, and wrapped in construction tape. TATP is so unstable that it typically does not require a fuse to detonate, sources said, and can be assembled from common household items.
A source familiar with the substance put it bluntly to the New York Post.
It's designed to maim and kill.
The same source added a grim coda.
This is just luck no one is dead.
Police secured the two devices before they could detonate, removed the explosive material, and ended the immediate threat. In all, the confrontation between demonstrators near Gracie Mansion led to six arrests, including Kayumi and Balat.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has drawn sharp criticism for his public handling of the incident. Rather than identifying who allegedly brought the explosives, Mamdani condemned Jake Lang for organizing a rally he called "rooted in bigotry and racism." Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether any formal designation of the incident as an act of terrorism is under consideration, but law enforcement voices have not been shy about demanding one.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association, a New York City police union, posted on X calling the bombing attempt exactly what it looked like.
This was a clear cut terrorist attack.
The union directly challenged the mayor's leadership, saying officers and civilians alike could have been killed.
Whether you pass or fail this test depends on your resolve to protect this city. This was a terrorist attack by people who promote hate on both sides. We could have lost many cops and civilians yesterday. You should have already taken charge within the first hour not almost 24 hours later!
That last line cuts to the core of the complaint: nearly a full day passed before the mayor's office engaged publicly on an alleged bombing outside his own residence.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in November, also weighed in, speaking to WABC Radio on Sunday.
This was a terrorist attack, no slap on the wrist.
Cuomo urged federal authorities to take over the case entirely.
Terrorism is a federal crime. Just let the federal government take it over, let them do the prosecution, and let them send a signal there is zero tolerance for terrorism. If you don't do that, if you don't do that in this moment, don't be surprised what happens next. Thank God the bomb didn't go off.
Cuomo's position aligns with the straightforward reality of this case: two people allegedly brought TATP explosives to a public demonstration steps from the mayor's residence. If the devices had detonated, the casualties among police officers and bystanders could have been catastrophic.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed the specific charges Kayumi and Balat will face, or whether the case will be prosecuted at the state or federal level. Investigators will need to determine the origin of the TATP, how it was manufactured, whether anyone else assisted in assembling or transporting the devices, and whether the two suspects had any connection to organized networks or acted independently. No court dates, arraignment schedules, or bail determinations have been publicly announced.
The JTTF's involvement signals that federal authorities are treating this with the seriousness it demands. The question now is whether New York's political leadership will match that seriousness, or whether a mayor who spent his first public comments after an alleged bombing talking about bigotry instead of bombs will continue to treat law enforcement as an afterthought.
