Explosives thrown outside NYC mayor’s residence probed as ‘act of ISIS-inspired terrorism’: Officials
A man is arrested after throwing a hand-made smoke grenade at a protest near Gracie Mansion, on March 7, 2026, in New York. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
The devices contained the volatile substance TATP and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.
“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects parked on the East Side of Manhattan, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.
All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.
Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody in connection with the devices will be charged with federal crimes, Tisch said. The complaint has not yet been unsealed.
The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, Tisch said.
“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Anyone who comes to NYC to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”
Alleged serial killer Rex A. Heuermann appears inside Judge Tim Mazzei’s courtroom with his attorney Michael Brown at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead for a frye hearing on July 17, 2025 in Riverhead, New York. (Photo by James Carbone-Pool/Getty Images)
Heuermann, a New York City architect, was arrested in 2023 and initially pleaded not guilty to killing seven women. Over 17 years, he targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, prosecutors said. His trial had been set for September.
“Do you feel it’s in your best interest to plead guilty rather than go to trial?” Judge Timothy Mazzei asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Heuermann replied.
Heuermann, 62, agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said. He will face no other prosecution in connection with the eight victims but must cooperate with the FBI going forward.
His sentencing is set for June 17.
Standing in a dark suit with his hands shackled behind his back, Heuermann admitted he murdered Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.
“You killed each victim in the same manner, namely strangulation?” Tierney asked.
“Yes,” Heuermann answered in clinical fashion.
Heuermann also pleaded guilty to strangling to death Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Heuermann also admitted to an eighth killing: 34-year-old Karen Vergata. He was not formally charged with Vergata’s death, but admitted to it as part of the plea agreement.
Authorities believe Vergata was working as an escort when she went missing in February 1996, prosecutors said. Some of her remains were found in April 1996 on Long Island’s Fire Island, prosecutors said, and additional remains were recovered in April 2011 on Long Island’s Tobay Beach.
Several of the victims’ relatives sobbed quietly and were seen wiping tears as Heuermann admitted to the killings.
Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and his daughter attended the hearing.
Ellerup leaned forward in her seat, gripping the back of the chair in front of her. Ellerup and her daughter sat in the back row of the courtroom packed with relatives of victims and investigators who have labored over the case for decades.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” Ellerup said after court. “Their loss is immeasurable.”
“She never wanted to believe the man she was married to for 27 years, the father of Victoria, was capable of these heinous acts,” Ellerup’s attorney, Bob Macedonio, said.
The Gilgo Beach killings went unsolved for two decades until the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, New York State Police and the FBI first identified Heuermann as a suspect in 2022 through his Chevrolet Avalanche, a distinctive pickup truck sparsely purchased on Long Island.
From there, prosecutors said they compiled DNA from a hair lifted from burlap used to wrap some of the victims and from pizza crust in the trash outside Heuermann’s Manhattan office.
Heuermann used an alias to communicate with dozens of sex workers and to amass an extensive collection of torture pornography. Prosecutors said he kept a “blueprint” of his killings that included a list of supplies, locations of “dump sites” and reminders to “consider a hit to the neck next time.”
Heuermann’s victims date back to 1993, when Costilla was killed. The final woman, 27-year-old Costello, went missing in September 2010, according to police.
Mesa County Clerk and Colorado Republican candidate for secretary of state Tina Peters reacts to early election returns during a primary night watch party at the Wide Open Saloon on June 28, 2022 in Sedalia, Colorado. (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)
(MESA COUNTY, Colo.) — A Colorado appeals court has overturned the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk who was convicted in a scheme to breach voting systems in search of evidence of election fraud in 2020.
In its decision on Thursday, the appeals court upheld Peters’ conviction but ordered her case to be sent to a lower court for a judge to issue a new sentence.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 18, 2025 in New York City. (Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione should stand trial in State Supreme Court in New York starting July 1, at least three months ahead of when the accused killer could stand trial in federal court, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a letter Wednesday.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges stemming from the assassination-style killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024.
Federal judge Margaret Garnett said Mangione would stand trial in October if she eliminates the death penalty as a possible sentence, as the defense has sought. Otherwise, she said at a hearing last week, Mangione would stand trial in January. Either way, she set jury selection for Sept. 8.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said there are “significant state interests” in putting Mangione on trial sooner.
“This heinous crime happened in midtown Manhattan, one of the busiest commercial areas in this County and spread fear and shock throughout Manhattan. New York State unquestionably has a deep interest in, upholding the fundamental right to life, maintaining public order, and delivering justice for a murder committed in its jurisdiction,” assistant district attorney Joel Seidemann wrote.
“Federal law supports our request that we proceed first and our right to a speedy resolution of this case would be severely compromised should the federal trial proceed first,” he said.
Judge Gregory Carro, the judge for the state case, is weighing a defense request to suppress evidence pulled from Mangione’s backpack, including the alleged murder weapon, a notebook and writings. After a three-week hearing, the judge said he would accept written submissions by March and issue a ruling in May.
The district attorney’s office told Carro the case is otherwise ready for trial.
“It is entirely natural then that the state case would proceed to trial prior to the federal case,” Seidemann’s letter said. “And, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has said that it expects the State case to proceed to trial first.”
Mangione has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his return to New York from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at an Altoona McDonald’s following a five-day manhunt.
Defense attorneys have said police waited too long to read Mangione his rights and unlawfully searched his backpack without a warrant. Prosecutors have argued the Altoona police officers were justified in searching the bag because the search pertained to a lawful arrest.
