Overview
- The eight-count federal indictment, unsealed Tuesday, charges Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, with providing material support to ISIS and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
- During dueling protests on March 7 near the mayor’s residence, two homemade devices were thrown, neither detonated, no one was hurt, and police detained both suspects within minutes.
- Investigators recovered three days of dashcam audio and video from the suspects’ car plus a handwritten notebook with bomb-making steps and an alternate plan for a vehicle attack on festivals, parades, protests, and celebrations.
- Forensic tests identified triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, in at least one device and in a Langhorne, Pennsylvania, storage unit rented days earlier, where agents also found bomb-making supplies and an ISIS-themed note.
- Prosecutors say the pair discussed wanting to “start terror,” targeting government, civilians, and police, and killing up to 60 people; both are held without bail in the Southern District of New York, with some counts carrying decades to life in prison.