Army veteran arrested after fire, fireworks attack at Lower Manhattan federal building

An Army veteran was in custody after authorities said he set off a fire and fireworks outside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, the 41-story federal office complex that houses ICE offices, immigration courts and other agencies. The FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the incident as a possible act of terrorism and an anti-government attack.

Authorities said the episode unfolded around 8:30 a.m. Monday between Worth and Lafayette streets. Video showed the suspect pouring gasoline outside the building before igniting it, and officials said he was carrying anti-ICE material. One account said the fireworks were loaded into a wagon marked “ICE off our streets,” underscoring the building’s role as a symbol of the city’s fight over immigration enforcement.

The suspect was identified as Andrew Arrabaca, 43, a former U.S. Army soldier from Poughkeepsie who served as a mechanic on Patriot missile systems. Officials said Arrabaca was interviewed by investigators after being taken into custody. The building, which sits in a busy stretch of Lower Manhattan, has become a recurring site of confrontation because it contains the New York field office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Authorities also said Arrabaca was armed with an array of weapons, including guns, knives, a machete and two axes, and that he fired a pellet gun. Accounts differed on injuries: one said two people had minor injuries, including a federal employee and a Secret Service officer, while another said no injuries were reported. Officials have not publicly detailed a motive beyond the anti-ICE material and the terrorism investigation.

The attack came after a string of anti-ICE demonstrations outside 26 Federal Plaza, where more than 20 people were arrested in earlier protests. That history has made the federal building a flashpoint in New York’s immigration fight, where demonstrations, enforcement activity and heightened security have increasingly collided in the same public space.