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A former teacher at a Harlem charter school, Christian Toro, and his brother, Tyler, have been charged with trying to build bombs, even paying students to break down fireworks to extract gunpowder for the explosives.
What happened?
The Toro brothers were arrested by the FBI Thursday morning after authorities found a bomb-making manual on the teacher’s school-provided laptop, 30 pounds of chemicals and household materials used to create explosives in their possession, a diary that referenced an “operation flash” plan and a note that wrote, “under the full moon the small ones will know terror.”
Authorities believe the two have been collecting the materials needed to create the bomb since October but did not become aware of the situation until after Christian resigned from the school, with IT employees noticing suspicious writings connected to the former teacher. Neither brother had been on been on law enforcement organizations’ radars before the investigation.
They currently both face federal bomb-making counts. Christian is also charged with distributing explosive materials to a minor. They have both pleaded “not guilty” in federal court.
According to NBC News, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the following in a news conference concerning the case:
“There is no immanent threat to New York City at this time.”
“Some good people stepped forward and that information that was crucial to law enforcement.”
John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism also released the following statement:
“We don’t know at this point in the investigation… the full breadth of what these materials mean.”
Who are Christian & Tyler Toro?
Christian Toro is believed to have been having an inappropriate relationship with an underage girl at a Democracy Prep high school, where he was employed. He resigned from the school in early December after a student in an undisclosed threat. According to a complaint, the student herself was later arrested; Christian was later arrested in January on rape charges, although it is unclear if it was connected to the relationship with the student.
After he resigned, Tyler Toro returned his brother’s laptop to the school. It was then an IT specialist noticed a copy of a book describing bombs assembly instructions.
According to NBC News, a spokeswoman for the school gave the following statement:
“After he resigned Democracy Prep, did a routine review of his laptop and was deeply disturbed by suspicious content. We immediately notified law enforcement of the content on Mr. Toro’s laptop.”
In early February, FBI agents and other authorities went to the brothers’ Bronx apartment after law enforcement was alerted by the school. According to a complaint, the brothers initially claimed that they were only researching the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, a claim later backed up by an anonymous female relative.
After FBI agents talked with students at the Harlem school, they learned that at least two had gone to the Bronx apartment to break up fireworks and stored gunpowder in containers. Allegedly, the students were paid $50 an hour for their work.
Some of the objects found in the apartment included five pounds of potassium nitrate, two pounds of confectioner’s sugar, a glass jar of black explosive powder, a cardboard box of firecrackers, a plastic container of apparent thermite, a small container of potassium nitrate and a bag of metal spheres.
In addition, a diary was found referencing both the bomb and Christian’s past relationship with the student:
“Christian arrested…If you’re registered as a sex offender, things will be difficult. But I am here 100 percent, living, buying weapons. Whatever we need.”
