New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch shared details about the two suspects detained after an alleged bomb was thrown in front of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Gracie Mansion residence. It is not known if Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji were at home at the time.
The alleged bomb was reportedly thrown towards where the protesters were. The event was organized by Jake Lang, the right-wing activist who was involved in the January insurrection. Commissioner Tisch remarked that Amir Balat and Ibrahim Nick had been identified as the suspects.
Who are Amir Balat and Ibrahim Nick?
Tisch shared that Balat, a counter-protestor, lit and threw an ‘ignited device’ towards the protesters there. She added that Balat was 18. It reportedly fell on a crosswalk and witnesses had said they saw smoke as it traveled through the air, the NYPD Commissioner further added.
The device apparently got extinguished a few feet from police officers. Balat then ran southbound, and got a second device from a man ‘tentatively IDed’ as Ibrahim Nick, Tisch shared. Nick is believed to be 19 years old. Balat lit the device and started running with it. He then dropped the device elsewhere, and officers secured the area, taking both men into custody.
Tisch added that the devices appeared to be a jar wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts and screws, along with a fuse that ‘quickly’ lit.
The incident sparked claims of an ‘assassination attempt’ on Mamdani. “Suspected Assassination Attempt Foiled on NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion,” one profile on X wrote. Another added “Assassination attempt reported targeting Zohran Mamdani — Mayor of New York City.”
However, the motives of Balat and Nick remain unknown. No further details were shared about the suspects by Tisch. While some online speculated about an ‘assassination attempt’ on Mamdani, right-wing activist Jake Lang had shared earlier that a ‘nail’ bomb had been hurled at him.
Jake Lang: Nail bomb encounter
Videos showing Lang and others running, after a device was hurled at them, began to do the rounds online. People in the video could be heard saying that a nail bomb was thrown at them.
This comes after Lang’s protest with a goat drew flak over obscene gestures he made when a vigil was being held for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who was killed in joint US-Israel strikes.
