Man Threatens To Detonate Bomb At New York Restaurant While Livestreaming, Gets Arrested

An internet personality who allegedly followed misogynistic idealogy was arrested Wednesday after he was accused by federal authorities of threatening to detonate a bomb at a Manhattan restaurant around Valentine's Day weekend.

According to a federal criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, 19-year-old Malik Sanchez allegedly live-streamed the Feb. 13 incident of him approaching diners outside a Flatiron District restaurant and making fake threats of detonating a bomb, WNBC reported. He faced a single charge of conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes.

Prosecutors said in the complaint that Sanchez, who goes by Smooth Sanchez on YouTube, can be seen in the video approaching two women with the intent to, as Sanchez put it, "enhance their meal."

Sanchez then told the women that he was going to set off a bomb, shouting, "Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Bomb detonation in two, in two minutes. I take you with me and I kill all you. I kill all you right now. And I kill all you for Allah. ... I’m gonna do it for, Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar, Come on. I do it, bomb now, bomb now," according to court docs.

The two women flee in response, and other people nearby run away as well. "Yo, all of them scattered ... That was five stars," Sanchez allegedly said after the stunt.

Police arrived on the scene after receiving a 911 call, but Sanchez had apparently left the area, according to prosecutors.

Sanchez reportedly self-identified as an "Involuntary Celibate" or "Incel," which the Anti-Defamation League defines as "young, heterosexual men who blame women and society for their own inability to form romantic or sexual attachments." The complaint noted that Sanchez posted other videos before and after the incident that were described as being misogynistic.

In a charging document, an FBI agent wrote that Sanchez can be seen in his videos accosting and harassing women on the streets of Manhattan, the New York Post reported. Sanchez allegedly openly praised Elliot Rodger, a self-proclaimed incel who killed six people in 2014, in one instance.

Sanchez was cited in the complaint as saying in one video, "F--k you, you b--ch. It’s cause of you, it’s cause of you that I’m a virgin — I have incel rage. You know what? Elliot Rodgers was good. Elliot Rodgers was a good guy." He added that Rodger's victims "deserved to be run over and hit by a truck" and "deserved to be slaughtered."

This is not the first time Sanchez has been arrested. He was arrested in October last year after he scaled the Queensboro Bridge and after he sprayed mace at several people while livestreaming, the Post reported, citing Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaylan Lasky.

Lasky, while arguing for Sanchez to be held without bail, reportedly said his conduct had been escalating in recent weeks, pointing out that police allegedly found five magazines that could fit a Glock pistol when he was arrested.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea was quoted by WNBC as saying that Sanchez's actions "disrupted not only the safety and well-being of several innocent restaurant patrons but the fabric of our society."