The three injured officers were taken to Bellevue, Sewell said. Afterward, Mr. Peterson said, Mr. Rojas fought with a traffic agent and tried to flee, showing that he was thinking: I did something wrong and I need to get away.. "The school resource officer went to the threat management unit, which did a threat assessment and deemed the person to be high risk," Cohen said. My son Andrew went to high school with the boys. All three officers Bickford is accused of attacking were released from the hospital the following morning. FBI agents with court authorization searched the man's home in Maine on Sunday, an agency spokesperson said. The NYPD released an image of a weapon, saying it had been recovered at the scene. Mayor Eric Adams said at the news conferencethat he had spoken to one of the wounded officers. While Bickford was placed on a federal no-fly list, he took an Amtrak train to New York allegedly intent on attacking police officers, authorities said. 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. They went to the courts, they invoked the red flag law. An "unprovoked" machete attack on three New York City police officers near Times Square on New Year's Eve is being investigated as a possible terrorist incident. After he allegedly dropped the knife, Nicholas said Bickford indicated he wanted to grab another officer's gun to kill other people but couldn't get the weapon out of the holster. They tried to restrict his ability to travel, but look what happened.". 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 was recently placed on an FBI terror watch list, according to a high-ranking police source. According to sources, the mother and aunt of Trevor Bickford notified law enforcement in recent weeks about their concerns he was gravitating toward dangerous Islamist ideologies. NEW YORK --The suspect in the New Year's Eve machete attack just outside theTimes Squarecelebration was charged Monday with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault. NYC Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference Sunday that he had spoken to one of the wounded officers as he was being treated at the hospital. The incident occurred just after 10 p.m. on Saturday near West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, outside the secure area that had been set up for New Year's Eve celebrations, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters at a news conference at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. Lyugovski and his brother-in-law, Andrew Dyachkin, of South Carolina, were in New York to watch the Times Square ball drop, they said in a joint video interview. Thursday, March 2, 2023 1:15. Times Square bomber gets life prison term. 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. Cop hanging out over Times Square. ABC News' Josh Margolin, Keith Harden, Patricio Chile and Mark Crudele contributed to this report. The person got additional mental health care.". Bickford was a 2022 graduate of Wells High School, where he wrestled and played football, according to the station. This incident follows other lone-wolf terror-type attacks on NYPD officers. "It's kind of hard to believe, I was just shocked, you know?" 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. The attack happened around 10pm near Times Square on New Year's Eve Two officers, including a rookie NYPD cop, were injured in the attack By Andrea Cavallier For Dailymail.Com Published:. Terrorist-related propaganda and personal writings were found in his backpack, they said. Wake up to the day's most important news. Officials believed the suspect acted alone, and the FBI says there is no ongoing threat. Nicholas also argued that he poses a "significant flight risk," telling the court Bickford indicated he intended to travel across the United States after leaving New York City and had bought an Amtrak ticket to Miami. Senior officials briefed on the attack described Bickford earlier this week as a "homegrown violent extremist motivated in part by Salafi-extremism." ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. This is the weapon that was recovered at the scene. 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. "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. NEW YORK The Pakistani immigrant who tried to detonate a car bomb on a busy Saturday night in Times Square accepted a life sentence . Trevor Bickford, charged in the attack on 3 NYPD officers near Times Square, may have been motivated by Islamic extremism. (The Associated Press contributed to this report. He had expressed some desire to travel to Afghanistan in the past, the officials said. The attack is being investigated as a possible incident of terrorism because of online postings Bickford made before the attack. Multiple law enforcement officials said they were looking into whether the attacker traveled to New York specifically to target police on New Years Eve. The Times Square attack was not Mr. Rojass first encounter with the law. Defense attorneys with The Legal Aid Society requested that he be released on his own recognizance, saying police questioned him for days without a lawyer present and pointing to his lack of criminal history. There was nothing, however, to prevent him from boarding an Amtrak train to New York. People lying on the floor to avoid the gunshots.". I wanted to kill them, Mr. Rojas told a traffic enforcement agent at the time, according to a criminal complaint. SHARE. ", He added, We thought someone is trying to shoot, you know, as many people as possible. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Monday prohibited television news channels from covering terrorist attacks, Pakistan based The News International Newspaper reported. Two of the officers were struck with the machete before an officer shot the man in the shoulder. A New Years Eve machete attack on police officers near Manhattans Times Square is being investigated by the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force. 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. ", 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.". ", 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.". Police working New Year's Eve detail in Times Square were wounded by a machete-wielding man who struck multiple officers in the head in what law enforcement are investigating as a possible targeted attack. This 26-Year-Old Pays $0 to Live in a Luxury Tiny Home' She Built for $35,000 in Her Backyard Take a Look Inside, Kylie Jenner's Ex, Rapper Travis Scott, Wanted in $12,000 Manhattan Nightclub Mayhem, Winter Storm May Bring More NYC Snow Friday and a Complex Mess to Millions: What to Expect. 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. "Weve just received initial discovery from the District Attorneys office, and well have more to say about this case after a thorough review and investigation. Federal and local authorities are digging into the background of 19-year-old Trevor Bickford, who allegedly attacked a group of NYPD officers outside a security screening zone in Times Square just after 10 p.m. Saturday, multiple law enforcement sources said. Mayor Eric Adams commended the work of the officers and the police department's security planning that went into securing the area around Times Square in the aftermath of the attack. The attack happened near 52nd Street and 8th Avenue just after 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve, less than two hours before the ball dropped in Times Square to ring in 2023. ___ Reb Yoel Kahn (chief oral scribe of the Rebbe) gave many Lectures on Chassidus. "The male then struck two additional officers in the head with the machete.". Global Edition. The family, he said, would not get to tell the court about the impact of his daughters death. Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, said, "Let's think about those family members here who are in shock right now, never thinking the first call of the year would be their son, their husband, their family member would be here in Bellevue Hospital.". The blocks where the biggest crowds gather to see performances and the midnight ball drop can only be accessed through checkpoints where officers use metal-detecting wands to screen for weapons. Mayor Hidetaka . Investigators were probing whether he stayed at a homeless shelter downtown, the four officials said. The attack happened near 52nd Street and 8th Avenue just after 10 p.m. Saturday, less than two hours before the ball dropped in Times Square to ring in 2023. The NYPD released a photo of the weapon they said was used to attack officers on New Year's Eve. A man charged with attacking police with a machete near New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve has been transferred to U.S. custody and made his initial court appearance. "He was in good spirits. https://t.co/ha11b02Fvq. Prior to New Years Eve, the NYPD noted in a pre-event assessment that throughout December "multiple pro-ISIS users disseminated extremist propaganda graphics broadly calling for attacks in advance of the New Year, advocating a wide range of low-tech tactics." The knife, which NYPD officials said was old and rusty, was purchased in Maine, where Bickford also withdrew thousands of dollars in cash at some point before taking Amtrak to New York on December 29. One of the injured officers only graduated from the police academy that Friday, the mayor said. "Most prominently, Islamic State supporters have recently been resharing content that was produced in 2016 at the height of the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate, meant to inspire lone actors to conduct low budget or self-starting attacks by using knives, trucks, cars, and other rudimentary weapons in order to cause havoc in public settings.". He joined CBS2 News in November 2017. Youre trying to steal my identity, Mr. Rojas stated during that incident, according to a criminal complaint. Reports say he took an Amtrak from Maine to New York on Thursday, but sources tell CBS2 the NYPD was not aware and did not know he was on an FBI watch list. Large bags and coolers are banned from the area, while barriers are set up to prevent vehicle attacks in the secure area. From boarding an Amtrak train to New York specifically to target police on New Years machete. Kind of hard to believe, I was just shocked, you know? I was just shocked, know. 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