The author of a machete attack on three police officers in New York on New Year's Eve is an alleged Islamic radical

New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell during a press conference about the December 31 attack.AP

Just two hours before midnight on Saturday, a man armed with a machete attacked three police officers near Times Square, which was set to experience the first full-capacity New Year's Eve since 2019. The attacker, a 19-year-old from Maine, is allegedly an Islamic radical who traveled to the Big Apple for the purpose of carrying out the attack, according to a senior police official.

The suspect, Trevor Bickford, has been charged this Monday with two charges of attempted murder of two police officers and two others for attempted assault, the body announced today.

The young man could also face terrorism charges, according to the police source, who declined to be identified because it is an ongoing investigation.

Times Square, the traditional place to celebrate the end of the year, was overflowing this Saturday with onlookers, willing to enjoy the first massive New Year's Eve since the pandemic, but also with police officers, with a device of thousands of agents.

Just after 10 p.m., and as the six-hour show of live performances continued, Bickford attacked two officers in the head with a machete and tried a third, a young man fresh out of the academy who managed to neutralize him with a shot to the shoulder.

The event occurred a few blocks from the square, just where the security perimeter of the festivities ended.

The three police officers were taken to the hospital with various injuries, such as lacerations;

one of them, with a skull fracture, is the only one who is still hospitalized.

The detainee remains in the hospital under police custody, also in stable condition.

Attorneys for the Southern District of New York and the District of Manhattan are considering whether to charge him with federal charges, state charges, or both.

In the absence of official confirmation by the authorities of the alleged terrorist motivation, the local media have released more details about the identity of the suspect.

According to CNN, Bickford kept a diary in which he expressed his desire to join the Taliban in Afghanistan and die a

's death .

The weapon Trevor Bickford used during the attack.AP

In the aforementioned newspaper a farewell letter was found in which the young man wrote to his mother: "I am very afraid that you will not repent before Allah and that is why I keep the hope in my heart that a part of you believes so that you can be removed." from the fires of hell."

In the diary there were also references to his brother, a military man, as if he had assumed the enemy's uniform, according to the senior police official, quoted by

.

The first details about Bickford's life have been revealed by the media.

A native of Wells, a Maine town of 11,000 inhabitants, he was a remarkable student and a precocious artist, but his achievements, also in sports, were cut short after his father's death from an overdose a few years ago, when his drift began.

Sometime in the last year and a half, he converted to Islam, and as a pious Muslim he often attended mosques around his home while devouring readings and videos about the religion.

The persecution of Muslims abroad, such as the Rohingya minority in Myanmar and the Uyghurs in China, sparked his desire to join the global jihad.

The

, citing law enforcement sources, says Bickford was on an FBI watch list of potential terrorists after his mother and aunt alerted the federal agency that the suspect had indicated his intention to fight with militants. Islamists in Afghanistan.

After the family alert, he gave up his intention to travel abroad and chose to do so within the country.

He left Maine in early December with several thousand dollars in cash, a credit card and the machete.

Last Thursday he arrived by train in New York.

The incident went practically unnoticed by public opinion in the midst of the festivities;

In Times Square, moreover, there is no shortage of violent events related to common crime.

But with the passing of the hours, the true dimension of what happened on Saturday has alerted the authorities.

Especially after learning that, although for the FBI the alert level for internal terrorism is significantly higher than the potential jihadist risk, the New York Police Department, with 35,000 agents, the largest in the country, transmitted a warning to the police on Friday of order throughout the country warning of possible Islamist attacks, and specifically of the action of lone wolves inspired by the Islamic State, according to CNN.

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