Times Square Machete Attack: Teen Suspect in Attempted Murder on New Year’s Eve Was on FBI Radar

The suspect in the New York Times Square New Year's Eve attack has been arrested by law enforcement and currently faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer using a machete.

The 19-year-old individual, identified as Trevor Bickford, is being recommended to be charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault in the attack, said the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Times Square New Year's Eve Attack

In a statement, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said that they currently do not have details of when the suspect will be arraigned and it is unclear whether or not he has an attorney. The formal arrest of the suspect comes two days after Bickford allegedly attacked police officers at a security screening area outside of Times Square.

It was roughly past 10:00 p.m. when the suspect went to the Times Square checkpoint located at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue. There, officers checked bags for weapons or suspicious items, said NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, as per CNN.

Law enforcement officials said that at the security area, Bickford reportedly pulled out a machete, struck one police officer with the weapon's blade and another officer in the head with the handle, and then swung at a third personnel who fired his gun at the suspect, hitting his shoulder.

Bickford has been in custody and under police guard at Bellevue Hospital for two days as he was being treated for the gunshot wound he received during the encounter. Even before the unprovoked incident, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was already wary of the suspect.

According to ABC News, Bickford was found to have made recent extremist Islamic radicalizations based on his online postings. While the suspect has no prior arrests, his mother and aunt notified law enforcement in recent weeks that they were concerned that he was gravitating toward dangerous Islamist ideologies.

Radical Islamic Extremism

The NYPD counterterrorism bureau in conjunction with the FBI was now investigating the New Year's Eve attack. If authorities deem that Islamist ideology was a factor in the incident, it would be the first terror incident associated with New Year's Eve in Times Square.

Before Bickford's attack, the NYPD noted in a pre-event assessment that throughout December, multiple users who were supportive of ISIS disseminated extremist propaganda graphics. They were broadly calling for attacks in advance of the New Year while advocating a wide range of low-tech tactics. For a long time, Islamist terror groups have promoted knife attacks.

During a news conference on Sunday, federal and local law enforcement stressed that the attack appeared to have been an isolated incident and noted that there was no longer a threat to the people in the area.

It was reported that the FBI had an interview with Bickford where the individual allegedly said that he wanted to travel overseas to help fellow Muslims. Other reports noted that authorities discovered a backpack at the scene of the crime that contained a diary where Bickford expressed his desire to join the Afghan Taliban, BBC reported.