A 19-year-old American who attacked police officers with a machete on New Year’s Eve in Manhattan was charged Monday with “attempted murder of an officer,” the New York police said.
Trevor Bickford is accused of attacking three officers outside the Times Square security zone, where New Yorkers gather by the thousands on New Year’s Eve.
He hit two officers on the head, without endangering their lives, before being immobilized by another officer who used his service weapon, wounding him in the shoulder.
The young man is from Wells, a small town in Maine (northeast), according to the New York police, who have not yet provided further details.
die martyr
According to the US media, he has recently shown signs of Islamist radicalization and is suspected of having wanted to commit a suicide attack.
According to anonymous sources cited by CNN, he kept a diary in which he expressed his desire to join the ranks of the Afghan Taliban and die a martyr.
the New York Times he claims that he had written in this notebook a farewell letter to his mother.
Federal police had questioned him in mid-December after a close friend tipped him off about jihadi comments and were monitoring his Internet activities, the agents told NBC on condition of anonymity.
The FBI’s Counterterrorism Unit is participating in the investigation, New York Police Chief Keechant Sewell confirmed at a news conference Sunday, without saying more.
Source: BFM TV
