New York – A man in a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists along a busy bike path near the World Trade Center memorial Tuesday, killing at least eight and injuring 11 others in what the mayor called “a particularly cowardly act of terror.”
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The driver was shot in the abdomen by police and taken into custody after jumping out of the truck with what turned out to be a fake gun in each hand and shouting “Allahu Akbar!” officials said. His condition was not immediately released.
Two law enforcement officials who were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke of condition of anonymity identified the attacker as 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov. He has a Florida driver’s license but may have been staying in New Jersey. The officials gave no other details on his background.
Authorities say he came to the United States seven years ago from Uzbekistan under what is called the Diversity Visa Program, which offers a lottery for people from countries with few immigrants in America. In addition to an address in Tampa, he also lived in Ohio and most recently, in Paterson, New Jersey.
The driver barreled along the bike path for the equivalent of about 14 blocks, or around eight-tenths of a mile, before slamming into a small yellow school bus. The mayhem and the burst of police gunfire set off panic in the neighborhood and left the pavement strewn with mangled bicycles and bodies that were soon covered with sheets.
“I saw a lot of blood over there. A lot of people on the ground,” said Chen Yi, an Uber driver.
Eugene Duffy, a chef at a waterfront restaurant, said, “So many police came and they didn’t know what was happening. People were screaming. Females were screaming at the top of their lungs.”
Police closed off streets across the western edge of Manhattan along the Hudson River and officers rushed into the neighborhood just as people were preparing for Halloween festivities, including the big annual parade through Greenwich Village.
“This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it a “lone wolf” attack and said there was no evidence to suggest it was part of a wider plot.
A law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity said witnesses told police the attacker yelled, “Allahu akbar!” — “God is great” in Arabic — as he got out of the truck.
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said a statement the driver made as he got out of the truck and the method of attack led police to conclude it was a terrorist act.
On Twitter, President Donald Trump called it “another attack by a very sick and deranged person” and declared, “NOT IN THE U.S.A.”
Cities around the globe have been on alert against attacks by extremists in vehicles. The Islamic State has been encouraging its followers to mow down people, and England, France and Germany have all seen deadly vehicle attacks in recent months and years.
Police said the vehicle, a rented Home Depot truck, entered the bike path at about 3 p.m. on West Street a few blocks from the new World Trade Center — the site of the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history. The truck then turned at Chambers Street, near the trade center site, hitting the school bus and injuring two adults and two children.
In addition to those killed, 11 people were seriously injured, police said.
A paintball gun and a pellet gun were found at the scene, police said. At least two covered-over bodies could be seen lying on the path, and the front end of the pickup was smashed in.
Tom Gay, a school photographer, was on Warren Street and heard people saying there was an accident. He went down to West Street and a woman came around the corner shouting, “He has a gun! He has a gun!”
Gay said he stuck his head around the corner and saw a slender man in a blue track suit running southbound on West Street holding a gun. He said there was a heavyset man pursuing him.
He said he heard five or six shots and the man in the tracksuit fell to the ground, gun still raised in the air. He said a man came over and kicked the gun out of his hand.
The right side of the school bus was bashed in, and firefighters surrounded it and worked to free those inside.
Thanks to Obama this mass murderer was able to enter the country. His failed policies are still paying dividends.
He was most recently from Patterson New Jersey. Largest Muslim population east of Detroit. Pretty radical as well. That was the neighborhood that individuals publicly celebrated 911.
Where is that commentor who keeps on hocking achinik that we are so safe in NYC among a million muslims? Or did he mean only in Brooklyn? Is this alos the zionists fault?
Cancer & ALS Upon Muslims.
Why did the Immigration and Custom Enforcement Division, permit this savage to enter our country? When an American tourist comes back from Europe or Asia, and presents his American passport, he is routinely harassed (I.E. “where were you, how much did you spend, what did you buy,how much money did you take out of the country, how long were you gone”, etc.). Yet, these non-citizen scum are allowed to enter our beloved country with impunity. After 9/11/01, ALL immigration, including legal, should have been suspended, until we got our act together. It still hasn’t occurred, and may never occur. We have enough problems here with domestic terrorists, without permitting savages from Muslim and third world countries, to add to our problems.
And Obama is also responsible for the mass murders in Las Vegas and Sandy Hook. I heard Trump will soon tweet that Hillary was responsible for the bad weather in NYC this past weekend. You cant trust those liberals, because they are in cahoots with the Russians. Oh, my mistake , I meant Trump and Bannon.