In a key development in the ISIS-inspired bombing attempt near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's residence, surveillance video shows one suspect purchasing safety fuse at a Pennsylvania fireworks store five days prior. Federal charges against the teens have been announced amid searches uncovering more explosives.
As previously reported, Pennsylvania teens Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were arrested after throwing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) containing TATP—known as 'Mother of Satan'—during a March 7 counter-protest near Gracie Mansion, inspired by ISIS and aiming to surpass the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing in lethality.
New details from the investigation reveal Balat entered a Phantom Fireworks store in Penndel, Pennsylvania, on March 2 at 12:46 p.m., purchasing a 20-foot roll of safety fuse for $6.89, per surveillance video obtained by CBS News.
The probe has expanded: A suspicious device was found March 8 in a parked vehicle on East End Avenue, blocks from Gracie Mansion, causing street closures but posing no threat. On March 9, FBI agents searched a storage unit in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, recovering additional explosives and conducting controlled detonations that echoed through the neighborhood.
FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized, 'The defendants allegedly support ISIS and tried to follow the path of that deadly group by attempting to detonate explosive devices in a crowd. The FBI and our partners have no tolerance for terrorist organizations or those inspired by them.' Attorney General Pam Bondi announced five terrorism- and explosives-related charges, vowing, 'We will not allow ISIS’s poisonous, anti-American ideology to threaten this nation.'
Counter-protester Walter Masterson, nearby during the incident, posted on X: 'I was in the middle of saying “as a born and raised New Yorker, we welcome everyone into this city” when he threw that over my head,' while standing by his message of inclusion.
CNN drew backlash for an initial post framing the suspects' actions as occurring on a 'normal day,' later deleted with an editor's note admitting it failed to convey the event's severity.
