Andrew Arrabaca, a U.S. Army veteran who served from 2001 to 2005 and worked as a mechanic on a missile defense system, was arrested on Monday after prosecutors say he poured gasoline on the ground in front of 26 Federal Plaza, set it ablaze and threw fireworks into the flames, causing an explosion and a cloud of smoke to billow into the Lower Manhattan streets.<\/p>\n
The charge carries a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison.<\/p>\n
Making his initial appearance on Tuesday, Arrabaca sat stoically in the federal courtroom flanked by two federal defenders, who asked a judge to let their client seek treatment at a Veterans Affairs hospital as opposed to sending him to jail.<\/p>\n
Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky ultimately declined and sent him to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crime you\u2019re charged with is troubling,\u201d Tarnofsky said. \u201cThe nature and circumstances, the fact that it was planned over time and the fact that it was carried out at a time where it can be expected that it would cause significant harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors say Arrabaca acted Monday morning during the rush hour commute. Prior to setting the fire, they say he fired shots from an airsoft rifle and set off fireworks on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n
Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Fry told the court that after his arrest, Arrabaca engaged in a \u201clengthy post-arrest interview in which he admitted to planning and carrying out the attack.\u201d She added Arrabaca had been planning it since January, and has spent the past several months purchasing supplies and weapons \u2014 including two axes, a hammer, a machete, the airsoft gun and the fireworks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last few months, he went to several other sites and locations, bringing with him certain of those materials and considered whether to attack those locations,\u201d Fry told the court, adding Arrabaca \u201calso understood that he, himself, could have died in the attack.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say Arrabaca\u2019s last known address was in Harlem, but has recently been living out of his car and slept in a park the night before the incident.<\/p>\n
James Barnacle, the assistant director in charge of the FBI\u2019s New York field office, said at a press conference on Monday that Arrabaca was an \u201canti-American, anti-government extremist,\u201d who targeted 26 Federal Plaza because of his disdain for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a cart; he had anti-ICE literature on it,\u201d Barnacle said. \u201cWhen he was being arrested, he yelled derogatory terms toward ICE, used bad words.\u201d<\/p>\n
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that Arrabaca had a sign reading \u201cICE Off Our Streets\u201d in the cart.<\/p>\n
Barnacle said the incident caused the cancellation of a naturalization ceremony and injured an immigrant heading to court.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s quite unfortunate and quite ironic at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Three people in total were injured, including two federal employees, according to law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Arrabaca is due back in court Aug. 4.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the government was ordered to instruct the Metropolitan Detention Center to evaluate Arrabaca\u2019s mental health over the next several days, though Tarnofsky acknowledged that the troubled Brooklyn jail \u201cis not all that well set up for providing mental health treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is someone who, notwithstanding what he appears to have done, is someone who has served our country and I think is clearly ill,\u201d the judge said before adjourning on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Also known as the Jacob Javits building, 26 Federal Plaza houses multiple federal agencies, including Manhattan\u2019s largest immigration court and a controversial temporary ICE holding facility<\/a> that has been criticized for overcrowding, hygienic concerns and subpar access to legal representation.<\/p>\n The 41-floor government office has become a controversial centerpiece of the second Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation effort. For months, ICE took the unprecedented step of stationing officers directly outside the building\u2019s 12th-floor immigration courtrooms, making arrests as noncitizens showed up for court-ordered hearings.<\/p>\n A federal judge largely banned the practice<\/a> in May, but the agency continues to make some arrests<\/a> in the building.<\/p>\n Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing
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