A 43-year-old Army veteran who registered as a Democrat and belonged to a left-wing political party allegedly spent months planning a fire-and-pellet-gun attack outside a busy federal building in Lower Manhattan, and told investigators he was willing to kill anyone in his path.

Andrew Arrabaca arrived at 26 Federal Plaza around 8:30 a.m. Monday pulling a four-wheeled utility wagon loaded with BB and pellet rifles, fireworks, knives, a hammer, a machete, and two axes. The wagon bore a sign reading "ICE Off Our Streets." Within minutes, he lit a large firework, poured a flammable liquid that ignited a fire near a heavily trafficked entrance, and fired five to seven pellets from an airsoft rifle before federal officials subdued and arrested him, Fox News Digital reported.

Three people were injured. At least one victim, an immigrant who had come to the building for a hearing, suffered a gash to the back of the head from flying debris. Surveillance images included in the federal criminal complaint show bystanders standing just feet from the entrance when the fire erupted.

The building houses immigration courts, an ICE field office, FBI offices, and other federal agencies. The Washington Examiner noted that 26 Federal Plaza also contains a daycare and a post office, meaning hundreds of federal employees and civilians, including children, occupied the building at the time of the attack.

Arrabaca wore a helmet bearing the phrase "Kill yourself," the criminal complaint states. He made anti-government and anti-ICE statements during the incident and told law enforcement he targeted that particular entrance because it was busy.

FBI calls Arrabaca an 'anti-American, anti-government extremist'

James Barnacle, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office, spoke to reporters at the scene Monday and did not hold back about the suspect's ideology.

"He is an anti-American, anti-government extremist."

The FBI said Arrabaca harbored deep anti-ICE and anti-government views. During the incident, he told officials he "was okay if he hurt or killed people going in and out of the building, whether they were federal employees or civilians." He also admitted he was aware he could die carrying out the attack and accepted that risk.

Voter records show Arrabaca registered as a Democrat and was a member of the Working Families Party, a left-wing political organization. He served in the Army as a mechanic on Patriot missile systems and also served in the National Guard, Breitbart reported.

The contrast is sharp: a man trained to defend the country turned the tools of destruction against the very federal infrastructure he once served. It is not the first time a member of the military has been caught acting against the institutions built to protect Americans, an Air Force officer recently faced investigation after being arrested in uniform during an anti-Trump protest at the Capitol.

Prosecutors say Arrabaca planned the attack since January

Federal prosecutors described the assault as anything but impulsive. Arrabaca had been buying supplies and scouting locations across New York City since January, they said. He visited several other sites while carrying weapons and considered attacking them before settling on 26 Federal Plaza.

The night before the attack, Arrabaca made his way to Lower Manhattan and slept in a park. Among the items he brought: a consumer firework labeled "Nuclear Warhead."

Prosecutors noted that Arrabaca does not have stable housing or employment. He had been living out of a car before the attack. He is described as an upstate New York resident, the New York Post identified his hometown as Poughkeepsie.

The Post also reported that Arrabaca was diagnosed with a medical condition in 2020 but stopped taking medication in 2021, a detail his defense lawyer leaned on heavily in court.

Attacks on federal immigration facilities are not unprecedented. Members of a North Texas Antifa cell were recently sentenced to a combined 450 years for a July 4 attack on an ICE detention center, a case that underscores how seriously federal courts treat politically motivated assaults on immigration enforcement infrastructure.

Judge orders release to mental health facility despite seven-year mandatory minimum

Arrabaca appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky. He did not enter a plea.

Judge Tarnofsky acknowledged the severity of the charge and the planning behind it:

"The crime you're charged with is troubling. The nature and circumstances, the fact that it was planned over time and carried out at a time when it could cause significant harm."

She added that the attack was not "something that was done on a Sunday", a pointed reference to the deliberate, multi-month preparation prosecutors had outlined.

Defense lawyer Jennifer Brown asked that Arrabaca be placed in a Department of Veterans Affairs mental health hospital for evaluation and treatment, arguing her client has mental health issues. Tarnofsky acknowledged the likelihood that mental illness drove the behavior but said she could not be confident Arrabaca would comply with treatment.

"The mental health issues that are quite likely the cause of the behavior, I seriously considered the alternatives proposed by Ms. Brown, but I had to reject them because I don't think it's sufficiently clear you would comply with treatment."

Tarnofsky ordered Arrabaca released to a mental health facility, not a federal detention center. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 4. The arson charge carries a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison; the Washington Examiner reported the maximum sentence could reach 25 years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Samantha Fry told the court the attack "could have ended much more tragically." Fry noted that Arrabaca admitted he knew people could be hurt and was willing to accept that outcome.

Even as anti-military sentiment grows in certain corners of the country, a Florida business recently banned veterans and called troops "war criminals", the question here is not how society treats its veterans. It is how the justice system treats a man who spent half a year planning to set fire to a building full of federal workers and civilians, then told investigators he was fine with killing them.

A calculated attack met with a mental health referral

The facts prosecutors laid out describe something far more serious than a disturbed man lashing out on impulse. Arrabaca spent months acquiring weapons and materials. He scouted multiple targets. He chose the busiest entrance at one of the most prominent federal buildings in the country. He arrived equipped with axes, a machete, multiple rifles, and incendiary devices. He told investigators he accepted the possibility of killing people, and the possibility of dying himself.

Yet the immediate judicial outcome was a transfer to a mental health facility, not pretrial detention. The judge herself said she could not be confident Arrabaca would comply with treatment, and ordered the release anyway.

For the three people injured Monday morning, including the immigrant who came to the building for a lawful hearing and left with a gash in the back of his head, that outcome may be difficult to square with the word "accountability." Disrespect for those who serve and protect runs in many directions; a California man was recently arrested for stripping bronze stars from veterans' memorials, a reminder that contempt for service takes many forms.

When a man spends six months planning an attack on a federal building, arrives with a wagon full of weapons, sets a fire at a crowded entrance, and tells the FBI he was willing to kill, the system owes the public more than a referral.