"We believe this was a sole individual. Another hurt officer had just graduated from the police academy on Friday, and as is traditionally the case, his first assignment was the New Year's Eve detail in Times Square. He then struck two officers in the head with the blade before he was shot in the shoulder and apprehended by police, Sewell said. Times Square was targeted for a terrorist attack in May 2010, when a Pakistani immigrant tried to detonate a car bomb in the Crossroads of the World. said Isles. But Wells has, you know, a really small school system. He said there are reams of data culled from mass shootings and terrorist attacks showing a common pattern of behavior in perpetrators that can be used in assessing risk. Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Crowds of people gathered on Eighth Avenue for New Year's festivities start to panic. "The attack follows a series of media announcements and propaganda from ISIS affiliates globally that were encouraging supporters to conduct lone actor attacks on targets such as airports and security services," ISD analysts wrote. I wanted to kill them, Mr. Rojas told a traffic enforcement agent at the time, according to a criminal complaint. "I heard a lot of people screaming and yelling and I saw the sirens, and it was total chaos.". "What it entails is that you have specially trained law enforcement working with mental health professionals. https://t.co/Waaux2hUTt pic.twitter.com/EijU7QUgkQ. Multiple law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Trevor Bickford, 19, of Wells, Maine. They believe it belonged to Bickford. One is an eight-year veteran, and one of the others is a rookie officer who just graduated from the police academy on Friday. Staff and customers could be seen looking outside at what they thought were two people fighting. Neighbors who knew the suspect and his family told NBC Boston said they were surprised by the allegations. "We're looking for somebody who we can associate with a foreign terrorist group or looking at somebody who meets the threshold of a federal terrorism investigation. The attack happened shortly after 10 p.m. at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, just outside checkpoints for the high-security zone set up for celebrants, officials said at a news conference early Sunday. He understood that his role saved lives of New Yorkers today, Adams said. From there, it's believed Bickford slept in a park in Forest Park, Queens. Times Square bomber gets life prison term. Investigators trying to pinpoint motive in NYPD machete attack, Suspect charged with attempted murder in New Year's Eve machete attack. And there was Thomas Henry, a retired Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker who was with family; he was hit in the head and has lasting cognitive issues. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting in the investigation. Officials allege the suspect attacked two officers with a machete, unprovoked, just outside the NYPD's high security zone for the New Year's Eve festivities in Times Square. Mr. De Marco also told jurors that Mr. Rojas had not made the statement about wanting to kill people that the police attributed to him. Scholz: "In the event of an attack, we will defend every square centimeter of NATO territory together" Update from March 1, 4:35 p.m.: For Latvia, Germany's help is crucial to Ukraine's survival in the Russian war of aggression. Were not dealing with a group of sophisticated, ideologically motivated foreign terrorists. ", Cohen said much of the new model for assessing the risk of such individuals is detailed in a 2015 FBI report titled, "Making Prevention a Reality.". Should authorities determine the attack was motivated by an Islamist ideology, it would make it the first terror incident associated with New Year's Eve in Times Square, authorities said. Jonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York. New surveillance video from inside Fiorintina's Pizza on Eighth Avenue captured the chaotic moments. A local pizza shop employee said panicked revelers fled amid the chaos. "All three of the officers are in stable conditions," Mayor Eric Adams said. "It just goes to show you, it could be your first day or it could be your last day, the actions that police officers must take every day are life-threatening situations," Adams said. The NYPD released an image of a weapon that officials recovered at the scene. The report prompted the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force to look into the suspect, the law enforcement sources said. Trevor Bickford, 19, suspected in the machete attack on three New York City police officers near Times Square on New Year's Eve, is pictured here in this undated photo. Transgender rapist Isla Bryson jailed for eight years for attacks on two women when she was a man. Confetti falls at midnight on the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration, in New York You can always.. US One News Page: Wednesday, 23 September 2020 . Upon arrival in New York the suspect made a large donation with the cash to the Bowery Mission, which investigators believe was meant to satisfy a Muslim tenet of charity. The decision in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan was one of only a few recent instances in which a jury found that the illness outweighed evidence of guilt.Its a humane verdict, one of Mr. Rojass lawyers, Enrico De Marco, said as he left the courthouse. Cohen noted that suspects in several recent mass casualty incidents had been evaluated by law enforcement prior to committing the acts of violence, including Payton Gendron, the teenager who pleaded guilty to killing 10 Black people in a racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, and Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to killing 17 students in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Law enforcement sources told ABC News that authorities are not ruling out the possibility that the suspect came specifically to New York City to attack police officers at the Times Square ball drop. Nicholas said Bickford at first indicated he wanted to travel internationally but decided instead to come to New York to carry out "jihad." "People trying to get into the store, people rushing out," said Fiorentina Pizzeria owner Mike Sicilliano. The FBI's Joint Terrorism task Force is also investigating. 0:00. A New Years Eve machete attack on police officers near Manhattans Times Square is being investigated by the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force. "He was in good spirits," Adams said. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix tout moment en consultant vos paramtres de vie prive. All Rights Reserved. Terrorist-related propaganda and personal writings were found in his backpack, they said. Headed up by "Bike New York," the bicycles for illegal aliens program is working in direct partnership with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, the New York City Department of Transportation, and other government entities to get bikes into the hands of illegals. Trevor Bickford, the 19-year-old suspect charged in the Times Square attack on NYPD officers. One round, and they went back to protecting the people of this city," Adams said. "They're all telling us to go towards the viewing area for the ball drop and everybody's running, everybody's panicking," Lyugovski said. The NYPD on Monday also confirmed there have been no incidents in the city in recent days requiring the kind of major response depicted in the photo. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault. Steering a person in a different direction early on may mean offering assistance to someone who needs it before that person concludes violence is necessary.". Bickford was taken into custody after being shot in the shoulder by a police officer. The attack and sound of a gunshot briefly sent some people in the crowd running, but the incident did not impact the festivities in Times Square, which continued uninterrupted. "Threat assessment is a systematic, fact-based method of investigation and examination that blends the collection of analysis of multiple sources of information with published research and practitioner experience, focusing on an individual's patterns of thinking and behavior to determine whether, and to what extent, a person of concern is moving toward an attack," the report states. The still photo image taken from a surveillance camera shows the Nissan Pathfinder used in the attack crossing through Times Square. In June 2020 in Brooklyn, Dzenan Camovic stabbed an officer in the neck, stole his gun and used it to fire at responding officers in another jihadist-inspired lone wolf attack. If the court finds that the defendant has a dangerous mental disorder, it must then issue an order committing the defendant to the custody of the state commissioner of mental health. There was Jessica Williams, a high school senior in Midtown who was on her senior skip day; her spine detached from her pelvis. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Trevor Bickford's neighbors in his Maine hometown shocked by his alleged conversion to Islam, attack on NYPD cops on New Year's Eve. The family, he said, would not get to tell the court about the impact of his daughters death. So everybody kind of knows everybody.". The 19-year-old being held by New York City police as the suspect in a New Year's Eve machete attack against three police officers just outside a Times Square security screening zone carried. The suspect said in the diary he regrets disappointing his mother; he also wrote that he wanted his brothers to join him in his fight for Islam, they said. ", Cohen added, "Thats why we continue to see instances where people come to the attention of the bureau or law enforcement, theyre assessed that way, they dont meet that threshold, they dont become the subject of a full-field investigation, yet they go out and commit an act of violence.". Officials expected as many as 1 million people to crowd the area. Mr. Rojass rampage through one of the citys most crowded areas lasted only minutes, but caused intense panic, conjuring comparisons to an attempted car bombing in Times Square in 2010 and to episodes in which terrorists used automobiles as weapons. WASHINGTON To mark a full year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US today announced another $2 billion in weapons for Kyiv, including three types of drones that are not publicly known to have been sent before.. Bickford is accused of carrying out the attack about two hours before midnight on New Year's Eve, just blocks away from Times Square, where heavy crowds of revelers were counting down to 2023. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sources also say the suspect told federal investigators he was targeting police. First published on January 2, 2023 / 12:31 PM. Law enforcement officials said they are looking into whether the man who allegedly attacked the officers had previously posted what they called jihadist writings online and traveled to New York City to target police. "I want to be clear that the FBI through the Joint Terrorism Taskforce is working very closely with them to determine the nature of this attack, and we will run every lead to ground," said the FBI official. Two teens suffered cuts after they were attacked by a man in Times Square early Wednesday morning, police said. Thomas Galati, NYPD Chief of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, said the suspect in Saturday night's Times Square attack, was interviewed by FBI agents last month in Maine after his mother reported concerns that her son was possibly becoming radicalized. A video of Ukrainian citizens praying in the town square of Kharkiv after Russia invaded the country has gone viral . The knife attack and gunfire startled a long line of crowds waiting to join the NYE celebrations. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream, 'Eyewitness to 2022,' examining the stories that defined the year, Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. The NYPD mounts a massive security operation every year to keep the New Years Eve crowd safe. A . 2023 FOX Television Stations, allegedly attacked three police officers with a machete, Kylie Jenners ex Travis Scott nightclub incident: New York police investigating alleged bar brawl, West Virginia governor signs new carry bill, allowing for guns on public college, university campuses, Rep. George Santos sponsors his first bill, Airbnb renting out Paris theater that inspired 'Phantom of the Opera', Surgeon runs down Philadelphia street to retrieve organ from transport vehicle stuck in traffic, Pilot thought instructor who died during flight was 'just pretending', Hamptons trailer park home sells for $3.75M, Long-lost Ironton ship found in Lake Huron, confirming tragic story, Baby seal released after crossing NJ highway with police help. Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, Christopher A. Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, and Keechant L. Sewell, the Commissioner of the New York City Police . The suspect is allegedly a 19-year-old man from Maine, whose online posts indicate recent Islamic radicalization, sources told ABC News. ), ALSO READ | 'Eyewitness to 2022,' examining the stories that defined the year, * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) A man accused of attacking police with a machete near New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve was arrested on charges of attempting to murder officers, police said. Waiting to join the NYE celebrations you can always neighbors who knew the suspect, the law enforcement working mental! Surveillance camera shows the Nissan Pathfinder used in the attack crossing through Times Square online posts recent. Being investigated by the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force to look into the store people. 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