Mysterious calls placed from NYC terror suspect family's home hours after alleged ISIS-inspired attack

BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. – Dispatch logs obtained by Fox News Digital show that three calls to law enforcement were made from one of the New York City terror suspects' home in suburban Philadelphia after the foiled attack.

The first call to law enforcement came in at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday from Ibrahim Kayumi's family home, the logs showed. The second came in at 9:19 p.m. A third call to law enforcement was placed on Sunday at 8:54 p.m. The calls were made to 911 or non-emergency lines, according to the log. It's unclear what was said on the calls or why they were made.

The calls surfaced as details emerge about the suspects’ families. The two men lived just 10 miles apart but came from very different worlds, leaving neighboring communities stunned.

Emir Balat, 18, of Langhorne and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, of Newtown, are accused of throwing live explosive devices into a protest taking place outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence, Gracie Mansion, on Saturday after making the almost two-hour drive into New York City, federal officials said. 

In a complaint, prosecutors said that a series of pictures showed the two men handling the alleged bomb, which authorities later determined to have contained Triacetone Triperoxide, or TATP, and had nuts and bolts attached with duct tape.

Kayumi's parents came to the U.S. from Afghanistan and became naturalized citizens in 2004 and 2009, according to CBS News.

A LinkedIn belonging to Shaysta, Kayumi's mother, states she's a manager at Popeyes.

The father, Khayer Kayumi, attempted to buy a Popeyes location in Brooklyn, New York in 2010, but wasn't able to open it because of a previous tax balance on the property, which was at least $200,000, according to court documents. The restaurant location was taken over by Bank of America in 2013.

According to Zillow, the Kayumi's home in Newtown is worth over $2.2 million.

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Khayer told the New York Times that they became worried after their son didn't come home on Saturday.

"Maybe he had killed himself," he said. "We didn’t know what was going on… If he’s going to be five minutes late, he calls."

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Balat’s parents, who were born in Turkey, became naturalized U.S. citizens in 2017, according to the report.

Prior to getting citizenship, Balat's father, Selahattin, sued Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in 2017 over delays regarding their citizenship application. They initially applied for citizenship in 2015.

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Violeta Sadauskiene, one of Balat's neighbors, told Phillyburbs.com that the Balat's are "absolutely lovely people."

"There was zero suspicious stuff going on at their house," she said. "Everybody was just in shock. Everyone. I could not believe it when I heard it. We thought it must be a mistake."

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Balat's lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, claimed to reporters that the two men didn't know each other prior to the attempted attack.

"They're strangers as far as I know," Essmidi said. "I'm saying they're from different parts of Pennsylvania, they're in different age groups, they are not known to each other. They do not live together, they do not have family or school ties."

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Though Balat is in high school, his attorney told reporters that he was finishing classes remotely.

"He's 18, he's finishing school remotely because he has only like three classes left to do. He's in his senior year," Essmidi said.

A district spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Balat is currently in 12th grade in the Neshaminy School District. Kayumi graduated in 2024 from Council Rock High School North, school officials confirmed.

The spokesperson told Fox News that Balat attended Neshaminy High School until September 2025 before going remote.

New York governor warned to fix race-based college program or be taken to court

FIRST ON FOX—New York could face legal action over a state-funded college enrichment program after two groups warned Gov. Kathy Hochul that the program’s eligibility rules allow for discrimination against White and Asian students.

In a demand letter sent Wednesday and obtained by Fox News Digital, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) and the Equal Protection Project (EPP) urged Hochul and Education Department Commissioner Betty A. Rosa to change the state-funded Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP), arguing it violates the Equal Protection Clause by authorizing eligibility based on race and ethnicity.

CSTEP, a grant-funded program sponsored by the New York State Department of Education, is an academic and professional development program intended to help minority students and economically disadvantaged students pursue careers in math, science, technology and health-related fields. Under state law, the program offers financial aid, tutoring, counseling and remedial and special summer courses to eligible students.

State regulations limit eligibility to those who are either economically disadvantaged or those who are "historically underrepresented" minorities, defined as Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan Native students. The two groups argue this allows for discrimination against White and Asian students, who have to prove they are economically disadvantaged to qualify.

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After PLF and EPP filed a federal lawsuit in 2024 challenging the state's sister program for high school students — STEP — New York officials issued interim guidance to program administrators in 2025 saying they may base eligibility decisions for new students in both programs solely on economic disadvantage and "without regard" to race or ethnicity.

But PLF and EPP argue some campuses still apply or advertise the "historically underrepresented" requirement. They point to the University at Albany’s CSTEP page, which states applicants may qualify as "economically disadvantaged and/or historically underrepresented" and lists underrepresented minority groups. The website also says it is "not currently accepting new applications."

The letter asks the governor to say by March 25 whether New York will eliminate race as an eligibility criterion for CSTEP, or potentially face further legal action.

"The Supreme Court has made clear that state programs that allocate benefits or opportunities based on race are presumptively unconstitutional," the groups wrote, citing the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision.

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cornell law professor and founder of the Equal Protection Project, William Jacobson, said, "It is shameful that the State of New York requires, funds, and defends racially discriminatory programming just because the victims are Asian and White students. This would never be tolerated if the victims were Black or Hispanic."

Erin Wilcox, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, said, "CSTEP should be open to all qualified students, regardless of race."

"Racial discrimination has no place in a publicly-funded program like CSTEP, and NYSED should stop funding CSTEP programs that treat applicants differently based on race or ethnicity," she continued in a statement to Fox News Digital. "It's time for Commissioner Rosa and her department to show they're serious about equal opportunity for all New York students." 

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PLF and EPP are already challenging STEP in a similar case in federal court in Chu v. Rosa. The case was filed in January 2024, and allowed to proceed in November 2024, after U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd denied the state’s motion to dismiss.

Jacobson thanked the Asian parents and organizations "who were brave enough to be plaintiffs" in the STEP court case, saying the college program "also deserves legal challenge" and invited Asian and White students who've been discriminated against through this program to share their story.

Gov. Hochul's office and New York Education Department Commissioner Betty A. Rosa did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.

The University at Albany told Fox News Digital, "As noted on the program website, the program is not currently accepting applications. When the program application window opens, the website will also be updated to reflect that UAlbany’s CSTEP program relies on race-neutral and ethnicity-neutral eligibility criteria."

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