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. His trial, which took place over several weeks, centered on his mental condition at the time of the incident. They said that after his arrest, he said he was self-radicalized and that he had converted his beliefs about three or four months ago, officials said. He remains hospitalized. An eight-year police veteran received a laceration to his head, and another a large laceration and concussion in the attack, said Sewell. A neighbor in Maine, Steve Isles, told reporters Bickford has two brothers, and they're well known in the neighborhood. Prosecutors said he was culpable, but failed to sway jurors in the 2017 attack that left one dead and injured nearly two dozen. On a later call, officials said all three officers had been released from Bellevue Hospital overnight. The mother of the 19-year-old man accused of slashing two NYPD cops with a machete near Times Square on New Year's Eve had reported his sudden and inexplicable terrorist leanings to their local police department in southern Maine three weeks before the Two of the officers were struck. Mr. Peterson told jurors that even if Mr. Rojas believed he was striking spirits on the Seventh Avenue sidewalk, he must have known that he was also striking real people, since his ability to execute a U-turn and drive beneath scaffolding without crashing into it showed competence and awareness. Officials allege the suspect attacked two officers with a machete, unprovoked, just outside the NYPD's high security zone for the New Year's Eve festivities in Times Square. Adams, Sewell and Driscoll all praised the officers who were attacked and other officers at the scene for how they dealt with the violence. While Bickford was placed on a federal no-fly list, he took an Amtrak train to New York allegedly intent on attacking police officers, authorities said. Officials expected as many as 1 million people to crowd the area. The New York Police Department has seen other lone wolf terrorist-type attacks on officers. There was Jessica Williams, a high school senior in Midtown who was on her senior skip day; her spine detached from her pelvis. The 19-year-old being held by New York City police as the suspect in a New Year's Eve machete attack against three police officers just outside a Times Square security screening zone carried. Trevor Bickford, 19, suspected in the machete attack on three New York City police officers near Times Square on New Year's Eve, is pictured here in this undated photo. A teenager accused of attacking three police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year's Eve is now facing federal terrorism charges after authorities allege he intended on waging a. The incident took place at around 4:30 a.m. in the area of 162 W 43rd St. Police. NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell has said two of the cops suffered blows to the head. Global; United . 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. "The attack follows a series of media announcements and propaganda from ISIS affiliates globally that were encouraging supporters to conduct lone actor attacks on targets such as airports and security services," ISD analysts wrote. Police say attack happened around 10 p.m. Just after 10 p.m. he went to the Times Square checkpoint at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue where officers check bags for weapons or suspicious. Police officials say they are reviewing the body-worn camera footage the officers were wearing at the time of the attack. "So, they no-flyed him. "The school resource officer went to the threat management unit, which did a threat assessment and deemed the person to be high risk," Cohen said. (The Associated Press contributed to this report. Trusted News Discovery Since 2008. 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. All rights reserved, Multiple Cats Found With Horrific Injuries in NYC May Have Been Tortured, Rescuers Say, Nasty Winter Storm Eyes NYC Area: Torrential, 40 MPH Winds and Snow Expected Over 12-Hour Siege, This 26-Year-Old Pays $0 to Live in a Luxury Tiny Home' She Built for $35,000 in Her Backyard Take a Look Inside, Kylie Jenner's Ex, Rapper Travis Scott, Wanted in $12,000 Manhattan Nightclub Mayhem, Winter Storm May Bring More NYC Snow Friday and a Complex Mess to Millions: What to Expect. The blocks where the biggest crowds gather to see performances and the midnight ball drop can only be accessed through checkpoints where officers use metal-detecting wands to screen for weapons. Thousands of officers are deployed in the area, including many new recruits to the force. Authorities identified the suspect at the news conference only as a 19-year-old man. NBC New York's Myles Miller reports. One is an eight-year veteran, and one of the others is a rookie officer who just graduated from the police academy on Friday. There was Caroline Johns, an executive assistant, who was out for lunch; she suffered a punctured lung. Mr. Rojas spent two months inside a Navy brig and in 2014 received what the Navy called an other than honorable discharge. Bickford only recently considered New York as a target, officials allege, and decided to go forward with the attack once he got to the city after taking an Amtrak train from Boston on Dec. 29, according to law enforcement officials. "It's kind of hard to believe, I was just shocked, you know?" "But the alternative is we continue to experience the weekly shootings or other mass casualty attacks that we seem to be experiencing today. "It's just kind of hard to believe. My son Andrew went to high school with the boys. The attack happened near 52nd Street and 8th Avenue just after 10 p.m. Saturday, less than two hours before the ball dropped in Times Square to ring in 2023. I said 'Allauh Akbar.' Prosecutors sayBickford intended to carry out a jihad,and the charges reflect thegravity of his actions. This 26-Year-Old Pays $0 to Live in a Luxury Tiny Home' She Built for $35,000 in Her Backyard Take a Look Inside, Kylie Jenner's Ex, Rapper Travis Scott, Wanted in $12,000 Manhattan Nightclub Mayhem, Winter Storm May Bring More NYC Snow Friday and a Complex Mess to Millions: What to Expect. Pour en savoir plus sur notre utilisation de vos informations, veuillez consulter notre Politique relative la vie prive et notre Politique en matire de cookies. The suspect was then shot in the shoulder and wounded by police. All three NYPD members were taken to Bellevue Hospital and were expected to survive. The NYPD released an image of a weapon that officials recovered at the scene. Copyright 2023 WABC-TV. FBI Assistant Director in Charge Mike Driscoll said the bureau's Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved to "ascertain what is the nature of the attack." A . But toxicology tests did not detect the powerful mood-altering drug in Mr. Rojass urine or blood, Mr. Peterson said, suggesting that was another indication that the defendant was aware of what he had done. Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, Christopher A. Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, and Keechant L. Sewell, the Commissioner of the New York City Police . Moments after the attack, Bickford was shot in the shoulder by police. Trevor Bickford, charged in the attack on 3 NYPD officers near Times Square, may have been motivated by Islamic extremism. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that tracks and analyzes online extremism, terrorism and disinformation, released a briefing on the attack Monday, explaining that Jihadist groups were promoting low-tech attacks and targeting law enforcement in the runup to New Year's Eve. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Investigators are interested in what brought him to the park in a remote part of the city and whether he intended to meet anyone. Jiji. After growing up in the Bronx, he spent three years in the Navy. They look at individuals holistically. The report prompted the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force to look into the suspect, the law enforcement sources said. The suspect said in the diary he regrets disappointing his mother; he also wrote that he wanted his brothers to join him in his fight for Islam, they said. Trevor Bickford, 19, is expected to be arraigned on attempted murder charges soon. Concern about the safety of everyone was there, they immediately terminated the threat. https://t.co/Waaux2hUTt pic.twitter.com/EijU7QUgkQ. He remained hospitalized on Wednesday, but was out of bed to face a judge via video. Watch as Police Commissioner Sewell & Mayor Adams provide an update on a police involved incident in Manhattan. "I acknowledge that it requires additional training, it requires resources, it requires a different way of looking at these issues," Cohen said. 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. Defense attorneys with The Legal Aid Society requested that he be released on his own recognizance, saying police questioned him for days without a lawyer present and pointing to his lack of criminal history. Associated Press. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault. 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.". Authorities say Bickford whipped. The suspect was known to federal agents, who interviewed him in mid-December after a relative alerted them to his revolutionary support for Islam, four law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation said. The male then struck two additional officers in the head with the machete. Sewell said the attack was unprovoked. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Monday prohibited television news channels from covering terrorist attacks, Pakistan based The News International Newspaper reported. 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. Should authorities determine the attack was motivated by an Islamist ideology, it would make it the first terror incident associated with New Year's Eve in Times Square, authorities said. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. "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 defense asked jurors to find Mr. Rojas not responsible for his actions. Bickford told police he took a sip of water and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before attacking the officers with a knife, sources said. The NYPD mounts a massive security operation every year to keep the New Years Eve crowd safe. 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. 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. / CBS New York. Counsel also referenced the Wells man's community ties and said he worked at a golf course. Law enforcement officials said they are looking into whether the man who allegedly attacked the officers had previously posted what they called jihadist writings online and traveled to New York City to target police. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting in the investigation. The attack and sound of a gunshot briefly sent some people in the crowd running, but the incident did not impact the festivities in Times Square, which continued uninterrupted. We believe this was a sole individual at this time; theres nothing to suggest otherwise, Driscoll said. The Times Square attack was not Mr. Rojass first encounter with the law. The official could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. "I cannot even describe how bad it was. Trevor Bickford's neighbors in his Maine hometown shocked by his alleged conversion to Islam, attack on NYPD cops on New Year's Eve. CBS2's Tim McNicholas spoke to that officer briefly Monday. Nicholas said Bickford at first indicated he wanted to travel internationally but decided instead to come to New York to carry out "jihad." 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