Army Veteran Detained After Setting Fire Outside Manhattan Tower Housing FBI, ICE and Immigration Court
Andrew Arrabaca, 43, served in the Army and worked on Patriot missile systems. Three people suffered minor injuries in the incident, which remains under investigation by the FBI’s terrorism task force
Summary:
Army veteran Andrew Arrabaca, 43, is in custody after authorities said he set a fire and ignited fireworks Monday morning outside 26 Federal Plaza.
Three people suffered minor injuries—two government employees and a civilian, including a security officer hurt while subduing Arrabaca.
The FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is leading the investigation. James Barnacle, the bureau’s top New York official, called Arrabaca an “anti-American, anti-government extremist.”
Investigators said Arrabaca poured what appeared to be gasoline outside an employee entrance, ignited it with a firework and fired five to seven pellets from an airsoft rifle.
Arrabaca served in the Army from 2001 to 2005 and worked on Patriot missile systems. No decision had been announced on federal charges.
The building houses the FBI’s New York field office, ICE offices and an immigration court where migrants have repeatedly been arrested after leaving their hearings.
ANDREW ARRABACA, a 43-year-old U.S. Army veteran living in Harlem, was taken into custody Monday after authorities said he poured what appeared to be gasoline outside an entrance to 26 Federal Plaza, set it ablaze and ignited fireworks.
Three people suffered minor injuries—two government employees and a civilian—before Federal Protective Service officers and a security contractor subdued Arrabaca. The FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating.
Video from the scene showed flames and a thick plume of smoke rising from the pavement as uniformed police and federal officers surrounded a man, restrained him and led him away.
“This morning an individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza in New York. The individual is in custody and two minor injuries reported thus far,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement posted on X.
The two people hurt—a federal employee and a civilian—were treated and released.
What Investigators Found
Authorities said Arrabaca arrived outside 26 Federal Plaza around 8:30 a.m. wearing a military-style helmet and hauling a cart bearing a sign that read “ICE Off Our Streets.” He poured what appeared to be gasoline outside an employee entrance, ignited it with a lighter and a large firework, then fired five to seven pellets from an airsoft rifle toward the building.
Federal Protective Service officers and a security contractor subdued Arrabaca. Three people suffered minor injuries—two government employees and a civilian who had come to the building for an immigration court hearing.
Investigators recovered a pellet gun, two axes, three fixed-blade knives, a hammer and a machete, authorities said. Arrabaca was also carrying anti-ICE literature and shouted insults directed at ICE as officers arrested him. James Barnacle, the FBI’s top official in New York, said Arrabaca had come “armed with bad intentions” and described him as an “anti-American, anti-government extremist.” Barnacle said Arrabaca later told investigators that he had targeted the building and was willing to hurt or kill federal employees or civilians.
Arrabaca served in the Army from 2001 to 2005 and worked on Patriot missile systems. Officials said he lived in Harlem, traveled to Midtown by subway Sunday and spent the night on the street in lower Manhattan before the incident. Federal prosecutors said the investigation remained underway and no decision had been made on charges.
A Building at the Center of the Immigration Fight
26 Federal Plaza concentrates an unusual amount of federal power on a single block: the FBI’s New York field office, ICE’s New York operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and an immigration court where many migrants have been arrested by federal agents immediately after leaving their hearings.
The building’s holding facility has drawn accusations of crowded, unhealthy conditions, making the address a persistent flashpoint in the administration’s enforcement campaign—and Monday’s fire places physical violence at the doorstep of that fight.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the incident “deeply disturbing” and expressed relief that no one was seriously hurt and that a suspect is in custody. The response shut down surrounding streets near Worth and Lafayette and disrupted transit across the civic center of lower Manhattan.
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Jesus, this is terrible in multiple ways…. Thank you for covering it.
Oh dear, thoughts for the people who are injured. So thankful it wasn’t worse. Thanks Donny.