{"id":159995,"date":"2026-03-11T03:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T03:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159995\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T03:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T03:21:09","slug":"terror-suspect-bought-fireworks-fuse-before-allegedly-hurling-explosives-at-nyc-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159995\/","title":{"rendered":"Terror suspect bought fireworks fuse before allegedly hurling explosives at NYC protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. \u2014 One of two Pennsylvania men accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired terror attack in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/new-york-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">New York City<\/a> allegedly bought a fireworks fuse at a suburban Pennsylvania store just days before allegedly hurling explosive devices at protesters outside Gracie Mansion.<\/p>\n<p>Emir Balat, 18, of Langhorne, appears to have purchased a 20-foot roll of consumer safety fuse from Phantom Fireworks in Penndel March 2, according to the retailer and surveillance footage obtained by Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p>The purchase was made two days after the U.S. and Israel launched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/defense\/wars\/war-with-iran\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Video appears to show Balat pulling into the store\u2019s parking lot and walking inside. He briefly moves out of camera view before returning to the counter with the fuse, speaking with a retail associate and completing the $6.89 purchase in a checkout lane.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/warrants-served-new-jersey-pennsylvania-feds-look-possible-nyc-terrorism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">WARRANTS SERVED IN NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA AS FEDS LOOK INTO POSSIBLE NYC TERRORISM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe single item purchased was a 20-foot length of consumer fireworks safety fuse,\u201d Phantom Fireworks Vice President and General Counsel William Weimer told Fox News Digital. \u201cThe total spend was $6.89 including tax.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Five days later, Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of Newtown allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/nypd-confirms-improvised-explosive-device-thrown-protests-near-gracie-mansion-manhattan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">threw live explosive devices<\/a> into a protest outside the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n<p>The event, \u201cStop the Islamic Takeover of New York City: Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer,\u201d drew about 20 participants.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/cnn-torched-over-bizarre-post-about-pennsylvania-teenagers-charged-throwing-bombs-nyc-protest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CNN TORCHED OVER \u2018BIZARRE\u2019 POST ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA TEENAGERS CHARGED WITH THROWING BOMBS AT A NYC PROTEST<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A counterprotest, \u201cRun the Nazis out of New York City: Stand Against Hate,\u201d drew roughly 125 people at its peak.<\/p>\n<p>Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NYPD officers<\/a> separating the groups into designated areas, tensions escalated shortly before noon, when a protester linked to Lang used pepper spray on counterprotesters, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Officers investigated for \u201ca period of time\u201d before making an arrest.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/storage-facility-raided-feds-investigate-alleged-isis-inspired-nyc-bomb-throwers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">STORAGE FACILITY RAIDED AS FEDS INVESTIGATE ALLEGED ISIS-INSPIRED NYC BOMB THROWERS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>About 30 minutes later, Balat allegedly threw an \u201cignited device\u201d that landed on the East 87th Street and East End Avenue crosswalk. Witnesses reported flames and smoke as it traveled through the air, struck a barrier and burned out feet from police officers.<\/p>\n<p>Balat then allegedly ran south on East End Avenue, took a second device from Kayumi, lit it and fled before dropping it between East 86th and East 87th streets. Police took both men into custody.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants now face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/terror\/counter-terrorism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">five federal charges<\/a> \u2014 attempted provision of material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, interstate transportation and receipt of explosives and unlawful possession of destructive devices.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital\u2019s Alexandra Koch and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. \u2014 One of two Pennsylvania men accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired terror attack in New&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-159995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}