A former U.S. soldier was indicted by a grand jury in New York on Tuesday on charges of plotting an arson attack on the federal building that houses an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office.
A federal grand jury indicted Army veteran Andrew Arrabaca on charges that he “used a flammable liquid to ignite a fire at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Manhattan, threw a firework into the fire that exploded, and lit fireworks at the Federal Building.”
The incident outside the ICE facility occurred in late July after prosecutors said Arrabaca planned the firebombing for months. It caused injury to at least one person and “substantial risk of injury to other persons, including federal employees, security guards and emergency personnel responding to the fire,” the indictment read.
The former private has not yet entered a plea. An arraignment date was not immediately scheduled.
Arrabaca, 43, was a mechanic on Patriot missile systems and was charged on July 21 with arson or explosion causing damage to U.S. government property, which carries a minimum sentence of seven years in prison. Aside from the ICE office, the federal building houses the FBI’s New York office.
U.S. Attorney Samantha Fry said Arrabaca understood his actions could have harmed others and that he was willing to accept his own death in carrying out the attack.
SUSPECT IN CUSTODY AFTER EXPLOSION NEAR FEDERAL PLAZA IN NEW YORK CITY
FBI officials have said Arrabaca came armed to the building with various weapons, including a pellet gun, knives, a hammer, and a machete. Arrabaca fired five to seven pellets from an airsoft rifle toward the building, according to authorities.
“His alleged acts appear to have been motivated by his anti-Government and anti-ICE beliefs,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said. “His unlawful conduct was immediately thwarted by the heroic response of the Federal Protective Service Officers, NYPD Officers, FBI Special Agents, and FBI Police Officers. FBI New York has zero tolerance for violence targeted at federal employees who choose to serve all Americans.”