• What Happened: Two Pennsylvania men threw homemade shrapnel bombs at Christian conservative protesters outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan, shouting Allahu Akbar, in what the NYPD is now investigating as ISIS-inspired terrorism.
  • Why It Matters: The devices were loaded with nuts, bolts, and nails and confirmed as live IEDs. Officials say a successful detonation could have caused mass casualties.
  • Bottom Line: Two men inspired by ISIS tried to bomb Americans on American soil. The FBI and NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force are now on the case.

Two men drove from Pennsylvania to New York City with homemade bombs, joined a counterprotest, and tried to blow up a crowd of American Christian conservatives. That is not a conspiracy theory. That is what the NYPD confirmed.

On March 7, conservative activist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion called "Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City." Around 20 demonstrators had gathered when a counterprotest of roughly 125 people arrived under banners reading "Run the Nazis Out of New York."

That is when Emir Balat, 18, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, lit a homemade explosive device and hurled it toward the crowd of conservative protesters. Witnesses saw flames and smoke as the device traveled through the air before striking a barrier and extinguishing itself a few feet from police officers.  A man in the video can be heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" as the device was thrown.

Balat then ran and retrieved a second device from 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania. He lit it and dropped it. Both devices failed to detonate.

They were not smoke bombs. Preliminary testing came back positive for triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a notoriously volatile and dangerous type of homemade explosive. The devices were jars wrapped in black tape and packed with nuts, bolts, screws, and a hobby fuse, designed to shred anyone nearby upon detonation.

One of the men in custody directly referred to ISIS in statements to law enforcement. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism. Both men now face federal charges including attempting to provide support to ISIS and use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Two ISIS-inspired bombers just tried to massacre Americans in broad daylight on a New York City street. The devices failed. The ideology did not come from nowhere.