The man arrested in reference to an assault that injured a number of New York City law enforcement officials throughout the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square has been charged with two counts of tried homicide and two counts of assault, a spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed to CBS News.
Trevor Bickford, 19, was taken into custody after three officers had been focused by a suspect wielding a machete, officers say. Law enforcement sources inform CBS News that Bickford, who’s from Wells, Maine, had not too long ago been added to the FBI’s terror watchlist. A high-ranking police supply instructed CBS New York Bickford was positioned on the checklist after his aunt reported that he had been radicalized on-line and expressed a want to journey abroad and be a part of Islamic extremists.
The assault occurred at round 10 p.m. ET on Dec. 31, only a few blocks from the place hundreds of individuals packed Times Square to look at the ball drop at midnight, mentioned metropolis officers, together with Mayor Eric Adams, at a news convention a number of hours after it occurred. Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell mentioned two officers had been struck within the head by a suspect carrying a machete, and each had been hospitalized for his or her accidents.
One officer, who suffered a fractured cranium throughout the assault, had simply graduated from the police academy on Friday. It was his first day engaged on the police power, officers mentioned. A second officer, in his eighth 12 months with the NYPD, was hospitalized for a laceration. Police say these two officers had been struck by the machete after the suspect initially tried to assault a 3rd officer simply outdoors of the designated high-security zone surrounding the Times Square festivities.
All three officers are anticipated to get better.
The suspect was additionally wounded within the assault when one police officer fired a gun that struck him within the shoulder, authorities mentioned early Sunday morning. He was taken to a hospital for therapy and is anticipated to get better.
Law enforcement officers with the NYPD and the FBI mentioned at Sunday’s news convention that they imagine the suspect acted alone and the assault didn’t sign any ongoing menace to the group.
“We believe this was a sole individual at this time. There’s nothing to indicate otherwise,” mentioned Mike Driscoll, the assistant director in command of the FBI’s New York Field Office. “I want to be clear that the FBI, through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, is working very closely with them to determine the nature of this attack, and we will run every lead to ground.”
Two regulation enforcement sources instructed CBS News that Bickford traveled from Maine to New York City spent the evening earlier than the assault at a homeless shelter downtown. They mentioned investigators are executing search warrants at his residence and are combing by cellphone information, social media accounts and monetary information.
The sources additionally mentioned a pocket book was discovered within the suspect’s backpack with writings about desirous to go to Afghanistan and prepare to develop into a holy warrior. They mentioned there was additionally a notice addressed to his household.
Sources additionally instructed CBS New York a bomb squad was dispatched in response to a suspicious bundle discovered with a sleeping bag and one other bag containing meals in a wooded space in Forest Park, Queens, on Sunday, which authorities imagine could have belonged to Bickford.
A police probe into the machete assault is ongoing, and investigators traveled to Bickford’s household dwelling in Wells, Maine, over the weekend as they labored to find out a possible motive. Officials are asking anybody with details about the case to submit tricks to NYPD’s web site or the Crime Stoppers hotline.
CBS News’ Pat Milton contributed reporting.