Dramatic new footage of a U.S. Army vet’s full attack on 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan shows several passersby running for cover as he points what looks like a rifle at them.
Andrew Arrabaca, described as “quite clearly ill” by a federal judge, is being held without bail on an arson charge for starting a towering inferno near an employee entrance to the government building with a cocktail of gasoline and fireworks he toted in a wagon bearing a sign that read “ICE off our streets.”
Video captures Arrabaca, 43, wearing a helmet, military-style camouflage pants and a tactical belt as he ignites a bag of fireworks on the sidewalk near the building, which houses offices for Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices and immigration courtrooms.
As the fireworks begin smoking, a woman walks by unfazed as they start going off behind her.
When a second pedestrian walks towards Arrabaca, the bag of fireworks tips over, and they begin shooting down the sidewalk and into the street.
Authorities released surveillance footage of the moment they said Andrew Arrabaca, an Army veteran, set off fireworks and appears to brandish a weapon outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York City on Monday. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
Arrabaca then pulls out what looks like a rifle, though authorities later said it was a pellet gun. The pedestrian runs for cover, along with three other people who were standing on the sidewalk.
Afterwards, a pair of passersby walk past Arrabaca, seemingly unbothered as one firework, bursting into red sparks and smoke, goes off a few feet away from them. When Arrabaca pulls his pellet gun again, this time pointing it directly at the pair, they appear to run into the building.
Arrabaca is then seen on video setting his gun down, before jogging over to an employee entrance at the building with a bucket of gasoline, pouring its contents on the ground and igniting a large blaze, around 8:20 a.m., FBI and NYPD officials said.
NYPD and law enforcement investigate the scene outside 26 Federal Plaza Monday morning. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
Authorities said the veteran at one point fired pellets in the direction of the building.
After he chucks a box of fireworks into the raging flames, a security guard spotted Arrabaca and pinned him against metal barriers lining the sidewalk. A man walking his dog happens upon the frantic scene as two other Federal Protective Service officers run to assist the guard.
James Barnacle, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York field division, said the former soldier served from 2001 to 2005, while in his early 20s, repairing Patriot missile systems.
Authorities released surveillance footage of the moment they said Andrew Arrabaca, an Army veteran, set off fireworks and appears to brandish a weapon outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York City on Monday. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
Arrabaca allegedly expressed suicidal behavior in comments to law enforcement after his arrest.
He allegedly said the building, which has repeatedly been the center of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in New York, was his target. He also said he accepted the risk that he or others could have been killed.
“His goal was to target the building,” Barnacle said. “He did say he was targeting the building and it was OK if he hurt or killed people going in or out of the building, whether they were federal employees or civilians.”
One of the FPS officers suffered minor injuries.
NYPD and law enforcement investigate the scene outside 26 Federal Plaza Monday morning. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
A lone civilian at 26 Federal Plaza for a hearing to apply for asylum was injured as well.
“So that’s quite unfortunate but quite ironic at the same time,” Barnacle said.
In addition to the fireworks, a BB rifle and a pellet rifle, the veteran was armed with “a machete, two hatchets, … a mallet and a hammer” according to the complaint.
Authorities released surveillance footage of the moment they said Andrew Arrabaca, an Army veteran, set off fireworks and appears to brandish a weapon outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York City on Monday. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
A DHS spokesperson said investigators also recovered a manifesto in Arrabaca’s bag.
Arrabaca is from Poughkeepsie and his most recent address is in Harlem, where he traveled from to Penn Station late Sunday before sleeping in the vicinity of the Holland Tunnel and then making his way to Lower Manhattan around 5 a.m., Barnacle said.
A law enforcement source said the suspect is outspoken on Instagram about various causes and appears to have attended a pro-Palestinian rally at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn earlier this year.