A 36-year-old Guyanese national residing in the U.S. has pleaded responsible to orchestrating a coordinated series of Molotov cocktail attacks that targeted religious sites and commercial businesses across New York City, court documents and law enforcement officials confirm. The suspect, Yogesh Sayrange, already had an open arrest warrant for an unrelated prior charge of threatening to behead another person at the time of his capture, local outlet ABC7 New York first reported.
Sayrange made his first formal appearance before a federal court Thursday, where he was arraigned in connection with the June 25 firebombing of a Brooklyn smoke shop located on Fulton Street. Federal prosecutors have laid out that Sayrange has been living in the United States unlawfully after immigration protections granted to him when he entered the country as a minor expired. He told investigators he currently has a pending application to renew his status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the program that offers temporary protection from deportation for eligible people who arrived in the U.S. as children.
During questioning, Sayrange openly confessed to carrying out the targeted attacks, explicitly stating to law enforcement: “Yes, I f-ing firebombed them. They’re Muslims, scum and terrorists.” This admission has confirmed authorities’ working theory that the attacks were driven by religious bigotry.
Investigators now link Sayrange to a total of seven separate arson incidents dating back to late June, with the vast majority of the attacks targeting houses of worship representing multiple faiths, alongside a small number of commercial properties. The final trio of attacks unfolded late Wednesday night in Queens, just hours before Sayrange’s arrest.
According to police accounts, at approximately 11:35 p.m., Sayrange allegedly threw a homemade Molotov cocktail at the main entrance of Iglesia Bautista El Mesias, a Baptist church located on 75th Street in the Ozone Park neighborhood. Surveillance footage obtained by investigators captures Sayrange speaking with a group of men standing outside the church moments before he ignited and threw the incendiary device. Prosecutors say that prior to launching the attack, Sayrange asked the assembled men: “Do you want this institution to be turned into a mosque?”
The homemade incendiary bounced off the solid wood church door before detonating on the adjacent pavement, leaving the church building completely undamaged. No people inside or outside the church were harmed in the attempt.
Immediately after the first attack, investigators say Sayrange traveled less than a mile to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on 78th Street in Woodhaven, where he threw a second Molotov cocktail at the building. Similar to the first attack, this device also bounced off the exterior wall and exploded on the ground, causing no structural damage or injuries.
A third attack was reported shortly after at a nearby ambulette company located on Rockaway Boulevard in Cypress Hills. Late-shift mechanics working at the facility told police they saw a firebomb land in the company’s parking lot. One mechanic who witnessed the event recounted, “We heard like a little bang. I go outside. The floor was on fire.”
Remarkably, none of the seven linked attacks resulted in any injuries to civilians, law enforcement or bystanders. Law enforcement apprehended Sayrange within minutes of the final Queens attack, and officers recovered two unused, fully assembled Molotov cocktails from his personal bag when he was taken into custody. When prosecutors asked about the unused devices following his arrest, Sayrange again openly admitted his plans, responding: “I had two more in my bag. I was going to finish the job.”