Edited by: Fern Sidman
Authorities in New York City are investigating whether a man who attacked three police officers at a New Year’s Eve celebration, striking two of them, was inspired by radical Islamic extremism, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter, as was reported by the AP on Sunday.
The attack happened a little after 10 p.m. about eight blocks from Times Square, just outside the high-security zone where revelers are screened for weapons. The AP reported that two of the officers were struck before an officer shot the man in the shoulder. The two officers were hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and the other with a bad cut, and were expected to recover.
The New York Post reported that one of the police officers injured in the attack was still assigned to the police academy. The young cop suffered a gash to his head, and a Staten Island officer suffered blunt force trauma to the head, the Post reported. Both were taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police did not publicly identify the 19-year-old suspect, but the law enforcement official identified him to The Associated Press as Trevor Bickford, of Wells, Maine.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Bickford has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer and attempted assault.
Bickford has no prior arrests. His mother and aunt notified law enforcement in recent weeks about their concerns he was gravitating toward dangerous Islamist ideologies, sources said, according to a WABC News report. The report prompted the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to look into the suspect, the law enforcement sources said.
The New York Post reported that the alleged Islamic extremist carried a machete to perpetrate the attack.
The AP also reported that investigators believe Bickford traveled to New York City earlier in the week and are examining whether he came to New York specifically to attack police officers at one of the largest New Year’s celebrations in the world, the law enforcement official said.
New York City police and federal officials are still trying to discern a motive, and investigators have been reviewing Bickford’s online postings, which included some mentions of Islamic extremist views, the official said, according to the AP report. The official could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Prior to New Year’s 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.” Islamist terror groups have long promoted knife attacks.
Speaking to the Post, police sources said that Bickford penned a disturbing manifesto that urged his family to “please repent to Allah and accept Islam.”
The sources also told the Post that Bickford carried the handwritten note in his backpack, along with a collection of religious material and $200 while staying at the Bowery Mission in Manhattan. The paper also reported that police sources told them that investigators found a sheath for the machete and a variety of other knives.
“To my family — specifically, mother — I’m sorry for not having been a good enough son,” the note read, according to a police source and reported in the Post. “I fear greatly that you will not repent to Allah,” the note said, according to the Post report. “And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out to the hellfire.
The note added, “To my brother Travis. Of anyone I’ve known who I have felt is closest to faith — it’s you. Of anyone I’ve ever wanted to accept Islam with me — it’s you. Please repent to Allah and accept Islam. I fear for you.”
Bickford also allegedly wrote, “To my other brother Devon, there was a time when we were close, but that time has passed. You have joined the ranks of my enemy. And for that I can give you no kind words – return to Allah.”
The Post also reported that Bickford is believed to have become a radicalized Muslim in recent years following the overdose death of his father, Tom, who died in 2018 at the age of 41.
The teen’s father played a “very active” role in the lives of his three sons, and “could often be found coaching them at football and wrestling,” the Portland Press Herald reported.
Bickford’s radical shift put him on the FBI radar, and sources said his name surfaced on an FBI “Guardian Watchlist” before he hopped an Amtrak train and traveled to New York, arriving on December 29th, according to sources who spoke with the Post.
According to reports, Bickford once appeared to be a typical American teenager who played on a championship football team at Wells High School, won an art award in school for his jewelry and made the honor roll as a freshman, the Post story indicated.
The AP reported that Bickford was expected to recover from the gunshot wound to his shoulder. No charges against him were immediately announced.
Michael Driscoll, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said the FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York City was investigating but investigators believe the attacker acted alone, according to the AP report.
The attack and sound of a gunshot briefly sent some people running, but the festivities in Times Square continued uninterrupted.
Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference early Sunday that he spoke to one of the wounded officers as he was being stitched up at the hospital, as was reported by the AP.
“He was in good spirits,” Adams said. “He understood that his role saved lives of New Yorkers today.”
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 NYPD mounts a massive security operation every year to keep the New Year’s Eve crowd safe. Thousands of officers are sent to the area, including many new recruits, according to the AP report.
The blocks where the biggest crowds gather to see performances and the midnight ball drop can be accessed only through checkpoints where officers use metal-detecting wands to screen for weapons, the AP reported. Large bags and coolers are banned. Barriers are set up to prevent vehicle attacks.
