Police said a man was taken into custody Monday morning after a fire was set outside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan with a makeshift incendiary device made from fireworks and a flammable liquid. Two people had minor injuries, and officers quickly secured the area before the flames reached the building.
Video showed the man pouring the liquid outside the federal building and then igniting it. The building, where immigrants are processed and where FBI and ICE officers are located, went into shelter in place out of an abundance of caution as the fire was put out.
The case is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, and the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is leading that work. That scrutiny comes as police said the person is believed to be a protester with a history of anti-ICE activity, a detail that gives the arrest a sharper edge than a routine fire outside a federal office tower.
A separate video showed law enforcement officials gathered around a collection of weapons reportedly found in the man's possession, including a pellet gun, some sort of knife and a hammer. The NYPD also said it was looking at the cart the suspect wheeled with him, which contained fireworks and airsoft rifles and carried a sign reading ICE Off Our Streets.
Zohran Mamdani called the incident deeply disturbing and said he was relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect was in custody. He said his team is in touch with the NYPD and that his administration will support the federal investigation, while also saying it will hold accountable anyone who threatens New Yorkers in their city.
The questions now are less about whether the fire was quickly contained than why the suspect arrived with that mix of fireworks, a flammable liquid and other reported weapons in the first place. Federal investigators will be trying to determine whether the scene was assembled as a protest, a threat or something more deliberate.
