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,” New York police said.
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Trevor Bickford is accused of assaulting three officers just outside the safe zone of Times Square, 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 Maine town, according to the New York police, who have not provided further details at the moment.
According to US media, he recently showed signs of Islamist radicalization and is suspected of having wanted to carry out a suicide bombing.
According to anonymous sources cited by CNN, he carried a diary with him in which he expressed his desire to join the ranks of the Afghan Taliban and die a martyr.
The New York Times he claims to have written a farewell letter to his mother in this notebook.
Federal police had questioned him in mid-December after being tipped off by a close friend of jihadist comments and were monitoring his Internet activities, officers 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, saying no more.
