When "suspicious devices" turned up outside Gracie Mansion on Saturday during dueling protests, the media quickly sought to gaslight the public about what really happened. 

“Two people in custody after ‘suspicious devices' ignited outside NYC mayor's official residence,” NBC New York reported.

However, despite the narrative that was initially pushed by the media, the suspect who allegedly lit and threw the two improvised explosive devices near Mayor Zohran Mamdani's official residence was actually a Muslim counter-protester. 

And by Monday morning, federal authorities were calling it ISIS-inspired terrorism.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch stood at a press conference alongside Mamdani and confirmed that suspects Amir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were arrested on Saturday and remained in custody. Both men were being prosecuted in federal court in Manhattan. Kayumi is a rich kid whose family came from Afghanistan.

Both reportedly made pro-ISIS statements while in custody. Federal agents have already executed search warrants in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where the two men lived, and at a related address in New Jersey. 

Investigators are also reviewing the suspects' travel history, including trips to Turkey and locations described as potential terror training grounds.

 "The NYPD Bomb Squad has conducted a preliminary analysis of a device that was ignited and deployed at a protest yesterday and has determined that it is not a hoax device or a smoke bomb. It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death," Tisch said in a post following the incident. NYPD sources added that the devices were packed with nuts, bolts, and screws, stuffed inside taped canisters fitted with fuses and filled with a chemical substance. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force responded alongside local authorities.

According to The New York Times, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the explosive device contained TATP—short for triacetone triperoxide—a white, crystalline explosive that can be made from commonly available precursor materials. The compound has been linked to ISIS in past terrorist plots, including the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Mamdani issued a statement Saturday that carefully avoided naming the actual suspects or their apparent motivation. He opened his statement by condemning the rally organized by conservative activist Jake Lang, describing it as "rooted in bigotry and racism," then pivoted directly to the explosive devices without making it clear that neither Lang or his group was not responsible for the IED. "What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are," his statement read.

The sequencing was deliberate. Lang's name was mentioned, then the devices were mentioned immediately after. He said nothing about ISIS. HE said nothing about how the devices were used against Lang and his group. It said nothing about the counter-protesters. The statement weaponized implication in a way that no careful reader could miss, and the press coverage that followed largely amplified it. The initial reporting on "suspicious devices found at an anti-Islam rally" told readers almost nothing useful about what had actually occurred. Once again, when the facts are inconvenient, the narrative retreats into technically true but misleading territory and waits for the news cycle to move on. 

The investigation remains active. Federal charges had not yet been formally filed as of Monday, and Tisch declined to detail the specific allegations pending prosecution.