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Authorities identified the man suspected of setting off an incendiary device outside a federal building in Manhattan as a former U.S. Army soldier and an "anti-government extremist."
Andrew Arrabaca, 43, was arrested July 20 after igniting gasoline and a large firework and firing an airsoft rifle at 26 Federal Plaza, which houses field offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI, said James Barnacle, FBI assistant director in charge. Officials said charges have not yet been filed. Two government employees and one civilian, an immigrant who had a hearing that day, were injured, Barnacle said.
"What occurred outside 26 Federal Plaza this morning was deeply disturbing," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on social media. "I’m relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect is in custody."
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What happened in NYC explosion?
Barnacle said Arrabaca took the subway from Harlem, his last known address, to Penn Station on July 19. He stayed overnight near the Holland Tunnel and ventured toward the federal building early July 20.
At about 8:30 a.m., Arrabaca arrived at 26 Federal Plaza and ignited a bundle of what appeared to be fireworks and fired several shots from an airsoft rifle, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, citing witness accounts. He then dumped a bucket of flammable liquid between two sets of bushes along the perimeter of the building and ignited a fire, she said.
Federal agents took Arrabaca, who was wearing a sign reading "ICE off our streets" and a military-style helmet, into custody, Tisch said. Law enforcement located his vehicle, two airsoft rifles and the container of flammable liquid, identified by Barnacle as gasoline.
Tisch said the incident occurred in view of an NYPD surveillance camera. Bystander footage shared on social media captured a plume of smoke at the building and officers tackling someone to the ground.
The FBI said in a statement to USA TODAY that the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the incident. The Joint Terrorism Task Force, first established in New York City in 1980, "is a multi-law enforcement agency that includes NYPD detectives and FBI special agents who investigate terrorism in the New York City metropolitan area and around the world," according to the New York City Police Department.
Who is the suspect in NYC explosion?
Arrabaca served in the Army from 2001 to 2005 and worked on Patriot missile systems as a repairman or mechanic, Barnacle said. He said Arrabaca had "a couple of encounters with law enforcement" but "nothing rising to this level."
Barnacle said Arrabaca came to the federal building armed with "bad intentions," a "cart with anti-ICE literature on it" and six incendiary devices or fireworks, a hammer, a machete, three knives and an airsoft rifle. He said Arrabaca, whom Barnacle described as "an anti-American, anti-government extremist," told law enforcement after his arrest that he targeted the building.
"He was looking to injure and harm people," Barnacle said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Anti-government extremist' set fire outside NYC federal building: FBI
