The Times Square attack was not Mr. Rojass first encounter with the law. The New York Police Department released an image of a knife they said had been recovered at the scene of an officer-involved shooting near Times Square on New Year's Eve. Early Morning Times Square Attack Leaves 2 Teens With Injuries: NYPD NBC New York 08:47 15-Feb-23 Cardi B and Offset pop by Times Square McDonald's for a Valentine's Day snack Complete Music Update 05:22 15-Feb-23 Cardi B & Offset Mobbed At Times Square McDonald's Valentine's Date All Hip-Hop 03:29 15-Feb-23 The bomb never went off, and Faisal. One of the injured officers only graduated from the police academy that Friday, the mayor said. Bickford has no prior arrests. En cliquant sur Accepter tout, vous acceptez que Yahoo et nos partenaires traitent vos informations personnelles et utilisent des technologies telles que les cookies pour afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss, et des fins de mesure des publicits et des contenus, dtude des audiences et de dveloppement de produit. Authorities say Bickford whipped out a machete and attacked the three officers, striking two of them in the head. Four senior law enforcement officialssaid the man is Trevor Bickford of Wells, Maine. "They feel disconnected from community, theyre angry, they're searching for a sense of life meaning, they come from dysfunctional family backgrounds, they spend a considerable amount of time online viewing content placed there by terrorist groups, by extremists, content regarding past shootings and other ideological or extremist content until ultimately they connect with something or a blend of beliefs, or a blend of beliefs and grievances. "It's kind of hard to believe, I was just shocked, you know?" Global Edition. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? The judge sided with the prosecution, ordered Bickford remanded after his arraignment. Videos from the scene appeared to show revelers jogging through the rain as they were directed away from the scene by columns of police officers. Trevor Bickford, 19, is expected to be arraigned on attempted murder charges soon. In a public statement made announcing the . "He understood that his role saved lives of New Yorkers today.". The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Monday prohibited television news channels from covering terrorist attacks, Pakistan based The News International Newspaper reported. "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. First published on January 2, 2023 / 12:31 PM. John Dias is an Emmy-nominated reporter. Police sources said the alleged attacker's injuries are also non-life-threatening. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. One News Page Home; Editions. ABC News' Josh Margolin, Keith Harden, Patricio Chile and Mark Crudele contributed to this report. Two of the officers were struck with the machete before an officer shot the man in the shoulder. I walked up and hit him over the head with a kukri. He was court-martialed in 2013 and pleaded guilty to drunken driving, failure to pay a debt, drunk and disorderly conduct and communicating a threat. On May 18, 2017, a car was crashed in Times Square, New York City, United States.One person was killed and 20 were injured. NEW YORK -- The NYPD and FBI investigation into a machete attack on three police officers near Times Square on Saturday night now spans from New York City to Maine, where the suspect is from. For now, we ask the public to refrain from drawing hasty conclusions and to respect the privacy of our clients family.". He may have traveled to New York City specifically to target police, sources told the networks. After the suspect's mother flagged her son's gravitation toward Islamic extremism last month, the FBI interviewed Bickford and determined he sought to travel to Afghanistan to fight for the cause, law enforcement sources told ABC News. Anderson Lee Aldrich, who allegedly killed five people and wounded 17 others at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs in November, had been arrested in 2021 on allegations of making a bomb threat that led to the evacuation of about 10 homes. Authorities in New York City say the 19-year-old suspect who allegedly attacked three police officers with a machete at a New Years Eve celebration near Times Square, striking two of them, now faces terrorismcharges. "There has been no 'attack' today or over the weekend in New York City as referenced by that Instagram post," the department wrote in an email. "But after that we heard the gunshots and once I heard the gunshots, everyone was like rushing to the back of the building, people trying to get in, people trying to get out," owner Mike Sicilano said. Three officers assigned to New Years Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square area were injured by a machete-wielding teenager who expressed militant support for Islam, law enforcement officials said. The 19-year-old Maine man charged with trying to murder NYPD officers in a New Year's Eve machete attack near Times Square shortly before the iconic ball drop was remanded to Department of Correction custody following his video arraignment from a hospital on Wednesday. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, noted in a release after the verdict that Mr. Rojas would remain in custody. At approximately 10:10 p.m., at 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue, blocks away from the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, BICKFORD attacked three NYPD officers, who were detailed to the joint federal-state law enforcement operation to protect the New Year's Eve celebration. AP. The security perimeter can only extend so far, though. It is being probed as a possible terrorist attack. The 19-year-old Maine man charged with trying to murder NYPD officers in a New Year's Eve machete attack near Times Square shortly before the iconic ball drop was remanded to Department of . Concern about the safety of everyone was there, they immediately terminated the threat. "There are message boards for this kind of material that just circulate," said David Viola, a professor with John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Center on Terrorism. "The male then struck two additional officers in the head with the machete.". Should authorities determine the attack was motivated by an Islamist ideology it would make it the first-ever terror incident associated with New Year's Eve in Times Square, something the NYPD and FBI have long feared and prepared for. He remains hospitalized. 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. Mayor Eric Adams said one of the injured officers just graduated from the police academy Friday. A year before he killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis in 2021, Brandon Scott Hole was taken into custody by police and temporarily placed in a mental detention facility for further assessment after his mother complained he assaulted her when she asked what he was going to do with the gun, officials said. The decision in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan was one of only a few recent instances in which a jury found that the illness outweighed evidence of guilt.Its a humane verdict, one of Mr. Rojass lawyers, Enrico De Marco, said as he left the courthouse. Sewell said the attack was unprovoked. Officials believed the suspect acted alone, and the FBI says there is no ongoing threat. A police officer walks after the first public New Year's event since the COVID-19 pandemic, at Times Square, in New York, Jan. 1, 2023. NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The Maine teen charged in the attack on three NYPD officers has made statements to investigators that strengthen the belief their attack was motivated by Islamic extremism, law enforcement sources told ABC News. Bickford was taken into custody after being shot in the shoulder by a police officer. Investigators have said they believe Bickford acted alone. He said a better approach, increasingly adopted by state and local agencies, is to "look at individuals holistically" when they come to the attention of law enforcement. I said 'Allauh Akbar.' 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:. Mayor Eric Adams said at the news conferencethat he had spoken to one of the wounded officers. ), ALSO READ | 'Eyewitness to 2022,' examining the stories that defined the year, * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. Updated on: January 2, 2023 / 11:33 PM / CBS New York NEW YORK -- The suspect in the New Year's Eve machete attack just outside the Times Square celebration was charged Monday with two counts. https://t.co/Waaux2hUTt pic.twitter.com/EijU7QUgkQ. Trevor Bickford's mom reported his terrorist leanings to police weeks before Times Square attack. Were not dealing with a group of sophisticated, ideologically motivated foreign terrorists. Mr. Rojas also told doctors that the police should have shot him and was heard saying while in custody, Im never getting out, Mr. Peterson added, pointing to those statements as further evidence that Mr. Rojas knew he had committed crimes. Times Square knife attack suspect wanted to kill uniformed officers and 'carry out jihad,' prosecutors say 19-year-old suspect allegedly yelled 'Allahu akbar' before charging at NYPD officers. It adds terrorism charges to theoffenses he was already facing, which include two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, as well as two counts of attempted assault. Law enforcement sources told ABC News that authorities are not ruling out the possibility that the suspect came specifically to New York City to attack police officers at the Times Square ball drop. The random box-cutter attack on an Asian woman in Times Square was a hate crime, cops said Tuesday -- as they busted and charged the suspect in the case. Still, police allege he was able to carry out what could be New York's latest terror attack. Trevor Bickford, the 19-year-old suspect charged in the Times Square attack on NYPD officers. The suspect approached an officer and tried to strike him over the head with the machete, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. He understood that his role saved lives of New Yorkers today.". 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. FBI agents with court authorization searched the man's home in Maine on Sunday, an agency spokesperson said. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Investigators are interested in what brought him to the park in a remote part of the city and whether he intended to meet anyone. He remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The suspect was taken into custody, she 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.. Both officers were hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and the other with a bad cut. 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. 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. Bickford was a 2022 graduate of Wells High School, where he wrestled and played football, according to the station. "We're looking for somebody who we can associate with a foreign terrorist group or looking at somebody who meets the threshold of a federal terrorism investigation. New surveillance video from inside Fiorintina's Pizza on Eighth Avenue captured the chaotic moments. And two years ago, a man stabbed a Brooklyn officer in the neck before stealing his gun and using it to fire at responding officers in another jihadist-inspired lone-wolf attack. Crowds are not allowed access to the blocks to see performances and the midnight ball drop without being screened at checkpoints where officers use metal-detecting wands to screen for weapons. Federal and local law enforcement investigators are combing through the suspect's online postings, which indicate recent extremist Islamic radicalization, the sources said. NEW YORK A man accused of attacking police with a machete near New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve is now facing federal terrorism charges after he became determined to wage jihad. Three police officers wounded in the attack are in stable condition. "The last entry in there says, 'This is likely to be my final entry,' it's dated December 31, 2022," said CNN Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst and former deputy NYPD Commissioner John Miller. The deranged homeless ex-con accused of randomly shoving a straphanger to her death in a Times Square subway station is due to be arraigned at his hospital bedside Wednesday. "Just goes to show you, if it's not your first day, it could be your last day. Maybe they come to the attention of law enforcement initially because of their online behavior, maybe its other behaviors theyre exhibiting that family or others observe.". "He stated he specifically targeted the uniformed police officer because an officer is a man in uniform with a weapon and often in the military are targets for the defendant," Nicholas added as she formally requested remand. NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell has said two of the cops suffered blows to the head. Investigators believe Bickford traveled to New York City earlier in the week and are looking into whether he came to New York specifically to attack police officers. On Wednesday, after about six hours of deliberation, jurors found Mr. Rojas not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect on one count of murder and 23 assault charges. Mr. Rojass rampage through one of the citys most crowded areas lasted only minutes, but caused intense panic, conjuring comparisons to an attempted car bombing in Times Square in 2010 and to episodes in which terrorists used automobiles as weapons. He then struck two officers in the head with the blade before he was shot in the shoulder and apprehended by police, Sewell said. Prosecutors countered that even if Mr. Rojas had been experiencing delusions during the incident, he was competent enough to know that he was harming people. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault. Both federal and local law enforcement stressed at Sunday morning's news conference the attack appeared to be an isolated incident and there was no longer a threat. When Mr. Rojas returned to the Bronx, friends said, he seemed paranoid and irritable, expressing scorn for the government and railing against taxes, parking tickets and police stops. He also allegedly said he considered all government officials targets because they couldn't be proper Muslims given the United States government's support of Israel. said Isles. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply. He doesnt go to jail, Mr. Elsman said. The FBI determined Bickford allegedly wanted to fight in Afghanistan and placed him on a federal watch list to prevent him from traveling overseas, Galati said. Sewell asked any witnesses to contact the NYPD. NBC Universal, Inc. 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. Bickford does not have a criminal record, the four officials said. 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. The knife attack and gunfire startled a long line of crowds waiting to join the NYE celebrations. Three police officers were wounded in the attack by a 19-year-old male suspect who was shot in the shoulder and arrested, New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference with Mayor Eric Adams. "Earlier today, Mr. Bickford was arraigned from Bellevue Hospital after languishing in NYPD custody for nearly four days despite a well-established court requirement that an arraignment take place within 24 hours of arrest," Legal Aid said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. The person got additional mental health care.". Navy veteran Richard Rojas was charged with one count of second degree murder, 18 attempted murders and 38 assaults, for which he was found not responsible because of insanity.. After being detained, Rojas was found to have ingested phencyclidine before the crash. She said he traveled to New York by way of Boston roughly three or four days ago. "He was in good spirits. Cohen noted that suspects in several recent mass casualty incidents had been evaluated by law enforcement prior to committing the acts of violence, including Payton Gendron, the teenager who pleaded guilty to killing 10 Black people in a racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, and Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to killing 17 students in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In 2012, he was arrested near a base in Florida and charged with battery after an incident in which he was said to have assaulted a cab driver. Adams said that there are no credible threats to New Yorkers at this time, which was reiterated by Sewell and Driscoll. 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