A crazed former US Army soldier and National Guardsman lit an “incendiary device” outside a Manhattan federal building Monday in an apparent anti-ICE attack, officials and law enforcement sources said.
The suspect, identified by sources as 43-year-old Andrew Arrabaca, veteran from Poughkeepsie, was being held as a person of interest in the 8:20 a.m. incident outside 26 Federal Plaza after being stopped by a security guard.
“At approximately 8:20 am, an anti-ICE rioter launched fireworks outside of 26 Federal Plaza, grazing a bystander and poured what is believed to be gasoline on the stairs of the entrance of the building and set it on fire,” a rep for the US Department of Homeland Security told The Post.
“Officers quickly recovered the individual’s bag, which contained what appeared to be two pellet guns and a manifesto.”
Officials did not immediately reveal what was in the “manifesto.”
No charges have officially been filed, and Arrabaca was identified by sources as a person of interest in the incident.
Officials said the maniac started a blaze with gasoline and fireworks outside of the building, which houses federal courtrooms and federal immigration offices, and threatened passersby with the airsoft rifles.
The nut was pulling a cart with the slogan, “ICE off our streets” scrawled on the side, with two long guns and more fireworks, the sources said.
Wild video shared on social media showed the raving suspect hurling fireworks into the flames right outside of the building’s front entrance, with one exploding loudly as police tackled him to the ground.
Officials could later be seen quickly dousing the flames.
Another clip showed several large fireworks and debris the suspect apparently left behind, including the anti-ICE sign.
Four civilians were treated for minor injuries, according to FDNY. One person was taken to New York Presbyterian hospital and three others refused medical attention.
Omer Bulla, the manager of a Worth Street parking garage right across the street from 26 Federal Plaza, said he and employees heard what sounded like a pair gunshots go off.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “It was loud. When we looked outside the police already took the guy.”
Arrabaca served in the US Army from 2001 to 2004, and served in the Army National Guard in New York until July 2005, an Army spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
He left the Army with the rank of specialist.
Sources told The Post Arrabaca arrived in Tribeca on Sunday night and headed to the federal building on Monday morning.
The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building is home to New York’s ICE field office in Manhattan as well as offices for the US Department of Homeland Security, immigration court and other federal agencies.
The historic building became a hotbed of arrests and detention during President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration last year.
“This morning an individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza,” the FBI said in a statement.
“The individual has been taken into custody and the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the incident.”




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