Times Square New Year’s Eve attack: Suspect arrested and charged with attempted murder



CNN

The 19-year-old suspect accused of attacking New York police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year’s Eve has been arrested and faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

Police are recommending that the suspect, Trevor Bickford, be charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault during the attack, the New York Police Department said.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it did not yet have details on when Bickford would be arraigned. We don’t know if he has a lawyer.

The official arrest comes two days after Bickford allegedly attacked police officers at a security checkpoint outside Times Square, the center of the city’s famous New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Just after 10 p.m., he drove to the Times Square checkpoint at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue where officers are checking bags for weapons or suspicious items, the NYPD police commissioner said. Keechant Sewell and the police.

In the safe zone, Bickford allegedly pulled out a machete, hit one officer with the blade and another in the head with the hilt, then swung the blade at a third officer, who shot Bickford in the shoulder, according to reports. sources and the NYPD. The officers were treated and released.

For the past two days, Bickford has been in police custody and custody at Bellevue Hospital, where he is being treated for his gunshot wound, sources said.

Even before the attack, Bickford was on the FBI’s radar.

Bickford was questioned by FBI agents in Maine in mid-December after saying he wanted to travel abroad to help other Muslims and was willing to die for his religion, multiple sources say. of law enforcement.

Bickford’s mother and grandmother grew increasingly concerned about his desire to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and reported him to the Wells, Maine police department out of concern for him on 10 December, the sources said.

When the FBI opened its broader investigation, it also placed him on a terrorist watch list, sources say. Since the Taliban is not designated as a foreign terrorist entity, planning to travel to Afghanistan to join the group does not constitute the federal crime of “attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group.”

Multiple law enforcement sources told CNN that Bickford traveled to New York via Amtrak, so those trips would not have triggered any watchlist database.

His original destination was Miami, the sources said, but he stopped in New York and checked into the Grand Hotel near the Bowery in Manhattan on December 29. He left on New Year’s Eve with all his luggage before driving the machete from Times Square. attack, the sources said.

A diary that investigators say belongs to the suspect ends with a last will and testament. According to multiple law enforcement sources, the final entry, dated December 31, begins with “This will probably be my last entry,” and goes on to leave instructions on how to divide the author’s assets among his family and instructions for his burial, according to sources familiar with the newspaper’s content.

The diary expressed a desire to join the Taliban and was found in a bag thrown away before the attack, sources said.

malek

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GreenLeaf Tw2sl