CNN
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Trevor Bickford, 19 accused of attacking A New York City Police Department officer carrying a machete on New Year’s Eve was indicted Friday on more than a dozen charges, including several terrorism charges, prosecutors said.
Bickford is currently on three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder facilitating an act of terrorism, one count of first-degree assault as a terrorist offense, and aggravated assault on a police officer as a terrorist offense, terrorism. Two counts of attempted assault in the first degree as a crime, and multiple other charges related to assault and attempted assault.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Friday night: “We thank the NYPD officers and our partners in the Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force who risk their lives every day to keep us safe. increase.
“All eyes are on Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and these accusations reflect the seriousness of this alleged threat to the safety of our city and our officers,” Bragg added. rice field.
Rosemary Vassaro Bellucci, a Bickford attorney for the Legal Aid Society, said Wednesday that her client should be presumed innocent.
Authorities said Bickford made his way to the Times Square checkpoint shortly after 10 p.m. In the security area, he pulled out a machete, hit one of the officers with the blade, hit another with the hilt in the head, and brandished the blade at the third officer, according to law enforcement sources. . and the NYPD.
The three officers were hospitalized in stable condition and released, the department previously said.
At his arraignment on Wednesday, prosecutors said the suspect tried to wrestle the gun from an officer during the attack, but was unable to remove it from the holster.
Prosecutors also said the suspect was his target because all senior government officials said in his mind, “The U.S. government supports Israel, so they can’t be proper Muslims.” claimed to have said
Law enforcement sources briefed about the investigation said Bickford had gone to Times Square that night to prepare for the killing, but told officers that it was only a government agent, not a civilian.
Bickford was about to attack a police officer who was talking to a woman with a small child, but didn’t want to risk hurting the woman and child, so he attacked the next police officer from behind and then other people who came next. Engaged two police officers.His assistance, sources said.
Prosecutor Lucy Nicholas also alleges in court Wednesday that the suspect “deliberately waited until he saw the moment the officer was in isolation and not near any civilians who could attack him.” bottom.
Multiple law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the case have previously expressed a desire to join the Taliban after a diary found in the suspect’s backpack criticized his brother for joining the US military. He told CNN he did.
According to another entry in the diary, the suspect was also worried that his mother would not repent to Allah, the source said.
Bickford was questioned by FBI agents in Maine last month, according to law enforcement sources, who said he wanted to travel abroad to help fellow Muslims and said he wanted to travel abroad because of his religion. said that he would gladly die.
Bickford’s mother and grandmother became increasingly concerned about his desire to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and reported him to the Wells, Maine Police Department on December 10.
Sources say that when the FBI launched a broader investigation, they also put him on the terrorist watch list. The Taliban is not a designated foreign terrorist organization, so his plan to travel to Afghanistan to join the group does not constitute a federal crime of “attempting to materially support a terrorist group.”
Multiple law enforcement sources told CNN that Bickford traveled to New York via Amtrak, so those trips would not have been caught on watch list databases.
