NYPD confirms lit device was explosive in Gracie Mansion protest clash

The lit device thrown during a clash of protests outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, was in fact an “improvised explosive device,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday.

The device was one of two recovered in the Saturday afternoon clash between an anti-Islam demonstration led by conservative influencer Jake Lang and a much larger group of counterprotesters.

“The NYPD Bomb Squad has conducted a preliminary analysis of a device that was ignited and deployed at a protest yesterday and has determined that it is not a hoax device or a smoke bomb. It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death,” Tisch said in a social media post.

Investigators are still conducting an analysis on a second device recovered Saturday.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images

View of an unexploded homemade device in front of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence in New York on Saturday.

Mamdani released a statement Sunday denouncing the Lang’s protest and the violence that followed.

“Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism. Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are.

What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.

I want to thank the brave men and women of the NYPD who acted quickly to keep New Yorkers safe. Our officers ran toward danger without hesitation, demonstrating once again the courage and dedication it takes to protect this city every single day.

My administration is closely monitoring the situation and I remain in close contact with our Police Commissioner.”

The two protest groups were initially divided by police, separated by barriers, before tensions escalated. Around 12:30 p.m., Tisch said an 18-year-old counterprotester “lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area.”

Witnesses said the device was smoking but extinguished itself after hitting a barrier and landing a few feet from police, the commissioner said Saturday.

The 18-year-old grabbed a second device from a 19-year-old man and lit that one too, before dropping it. No one was injured by either device, police said.

Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi were arrested in connection with the matter, Tisch confirmed. Both men are from Pennsylvania, sources familiar with the investigation told NBC New York.

The FBI’s joint terrorism task force has joined the investigation, sources familiar with the probe told NBC New York.

Police said the men were counterprotesters to Lang’s protest, called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer.”

Overall, six people were arrested as a result of Saturday’s protest — the two men “responsible for handling and deploying the devices,” the person who deployed pepper spray and three others related to disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic, Tisch said.