5 things: Times Square will be a "gun-free zone" 2:40
(CNN) --
The 19-year-old suspect accused of attacking New York police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year's Eve has been arrested and faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer.
Police recommend that the suspect, Trevor Bickford, be charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted battery in the attack, the New York Police Department said.
The Manhattan district attorney's office said they do not yet have details of when Bickford will be prosecuted.
It is not clear if he has a lawyer.
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The formal arrest comes two days after Bickford allegedly attacked police officers at a security checkpoint outside Times Square, the center of the city's famous New Year's Eve celebrations.
Just after 10 p.m. local time, he went to the Times Square checkpoint at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, where officers search backpacks and suitcases to seize weapons or suspicious items, the New York City police police commissioner said. York, Keechant Sewell, and the police.
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At the security area, Bickford allegedly pulled out a machete, struck one officer with the blade and another in the head with the handle, then waved the blade at a third officer, who shot Bickford in the shoulder, according to the sources. and the NYPD.
The agents received care and released them.
For the past two days, Bickford remained in custody and under police surveillance at Bellevue Hospital, where he was receiving treatment for the gunshot wound, the sources said.
Trevor Bickford, 19, was identified as the suspect in Saturday's machete attack on New York police officers.
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Even before the attack, Bickford was on the FBI's radar.
Bickford was interviewed by FBI agents in Maine in mid-December after he said he wanted to travel abroad to help other Muslims and was willing to die for his religion, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
Bickford's mother and grandmother became increasingly concerned about his desire to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and reported it to the concerned Wells, Maine, police department on December 10, the sources said.
When the FBI expanded its investigation, they also placed him on a terrorist watch list, according to the sources.
Because the Taliban is not designated as a foreign terrorist entity, planning to travel to Afghanistan to join the group does not constitute a federal crime of "attempted to materially support a terrorist group."
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Multiple law enforcement sources told CNN that Bickford traveled to New York via Amtrak, so those trips did not match any watch list databases.
His original destination was Miami, the sources said, but he stopped in New York and checked into the Grand Hotel near the Bowery in Manhattan on December 29.
She checked in on New Year's Eve with all of his luggage before allegedly carrying out the machete attack in Times Square, the sources said.
A diary that investigators believe belongs to the suspect ends with a last will and testament.
According to multiple police sources, the last entry in the diary, dated December 31, begins with "This will probably be my last entry" and continues with instructions on how to divide the author's belongings among his family and instructions for his burial, according to sources familiar. with the content of the newspaper.
The diary expressed a desire to join the Taliban and was found in a bag discarded before the attack, according to the sources.
Attack on policemenAttack in New YorkTimes Square
