The U.S. Army veteran accused of setting a fire outside 26 Federal Plaza was charged with arson Tuesday and held without bail, with the judge ordering prosecutors to urge jail staff to provide mental health treatment to a man who had served his country and was “quite clearly ill.”
Andrew Arabacca, 43, appeared in Manhattan Federal Court a day after his arrest outside the government skyscraper across the street for allegedly causing a blazing inferno by an employee entrance with a cocktail of gasoline and fireworks he toted in a wagon bearing a sign reading “ICE off our streets.”
Nobody was seriously hurt during the bizarre spectacle, with a security guard and two federal officers quickly tackling Arabacca to the ground. Still, Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Fry said the outcome could easily have been fatal.
Urging the judge to deny him bail, the prosecutor said Arabacca had confessed to law enforcement and that he’d been planning the incident since January, plus he had checked out other locations to target, too. She noted the building’s entrance on Worth St. near Lafayette St. was also used by members of the public to access a post office and the children of staff attend a daycare in the building.
“This attack could have ended much more tragically,” Fry said, arguing there was no way to order the man’s release and ensure the public’s safety.
NYPD and law enforcement officers investigate the scene of an explosive device outside 26 Federal Plaza Monday, July 20, 2026, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
In addition to a bucket full of gasoline and a bundle of fireworks, Arabacca allegedly brought with him to 26 Federal Plaza a machete, two hatchets, a BB gun and a pellet gun.
Footage of the incident that quickly went viral showed Arabacca, wearing a military-style helmet, pouring gasoline over the steps and quickly setting it alight. He allegedly stoked the flames by throwing fireworks into the blaze before firing off a series of shots at the building with the pellet gun.
He allegedly expressed suicidal behavior in comments to law enforcement after his arrest. He allegedly said the building, which has repeatedly been the center in New York of the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown on immigration, was his target — and accepted the risk that he or others could have been killed.
Wearing a black, long-sleeved sweatshirt and black slacks to court Tuesday, the diminutive Arabacca’s demeanor was notably more peaceful as he politely affirmed to the judge that he understood his rights.
Jennifer Brown from the Federal Defenders strenuously argued against housing the Poughkeepsie man pretrial at Brooklyn’s scandal-plagued MDC jail, saying the psychiatric ward at the Veterans Affairs Hospital was far better equipped to treat his evident mental illness.
Brown noted Arabacca was a native New Yorker who had not left the U.S. since 2005, the year he finished serving, and had been gainfully employed and law-abiding until recently, with unspecified circumstances leading to an apparent mental health spiral and him living in his car.
“Treating the underlying mental health condition will ensure safety to the community,” the defense attorney said. “I think we all know what’s going to happen to him at the MDC.”
Andrew Arrabaca, the man who allegedly set off an incendiary device outside 26 Federal Plaza on July 20, 2026, is seen here protesting during a “Families Stand with Gaza” action in Grand Army Plaza on Aug. 3, 2025, in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Michael Nigro/Sipa USA via AP Images)
Federal Judge Robyn Tarnofsky queried Arabacca’s lawyers about how to ensure he wouldn’t be released from the VA Hospital after a psych evaluation. Appearing torn, she retreated to her chambers to reflect on the right course of action, ultimately returning to rule against the man’s release bid. The judge said she was not confident that Arabacca would comply with a VA treatment program, adding that the nature of his alleged crime was “troubling.”
“This wasn’t something on a Sunday when no one was at the building,” the judge said. She added that she would, regardless, hold the prosecution’s feet to the fire to ensure Arabacca was adequately evaluated for appropriate treatment at the MDC.
“This is someone who, notwithstanding what he appears to have done, served our country, and who I think is quite clearly ill,” the judge said.