Trevor Bickford, 19, has been charged in a New Year’s Eve machete attack on police near New York City’sTimes Square, according to reports.
The alleged attacker is being charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of attempted assault. Mr Bickford allegedly attacked a trio of NYPD officers with a machete, causing one blunt force trauma to the head and leaving a second — a rookie on his first assignment — with a gash across his head.
The officers are recovering from non-life-threatening injuries.
Mr Bickford was shot in the shoulder by a third officer — who was also injured in the alleged attack — and was transported to a hospital.
Around 10pm on Saturday Mr Bickford allegedly attacked police working near Times Square after traveling to the city days before from his home in Maine.
Police found Islamic religious material and a letter asking his family members to convert to Islam among his possessions.
“To my family — specifically, mother — I’m sorry for not having been a good enough son,” Mr Bickford wrote in the note. “I fear greatly that you will not repent to Allah. And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out of the hellfire.”
Sources speaking to the New York Post allegedly claimed that Mr Bickford became “radicalised” in recent months, though it is unclear what drove his reported conversion and zealotry.
A police source speaking to The New York Daily News said the case is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
“It’s being investigated as a terror attack, 100%,” the source told the outlet. “He radicalized about a month ago. He’s not affiliated with any group. It’s more like a lone-wolf situation.”
Mr Bickford was reportedly added to the FBI’s “Guardian Watchlist” after allegedly posting online about his desires to travel to Afghanistan and fight alongside Islamic militants.
CNN reports that investigators are currently seeking warrants to review Mr Bickford’s online activity to see if he had been viewing extremist content online.
A day before the attack the NYPD issued a bulletin to other law enforcement agencies alerting them to a video call from ISIS for individual attacks by extremists. The bulletin’s headline read “ISIS-Aligned Media Unit Releases Video Ahead of New Year’s Eve, Demanding Lone Offender Attacks.”
The ISIS video reportedly included “selected video clips, suggesting various means of attack, including explosives, handguns, knives, and toxins,” the bulletin said.
If determined to be a terrorist attack, it would be the first to occur at the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, which is among the largest on the planet.
