By David E. Hubler
Contributor, In Homeland Security
New Yorkers went back to their normal routines Wednesday morning with images still fresh of Tuesday’s deadly truck attack in lower Manhattan that left eight persons dead and 11 others injured.
News sources called it the deadliest terrorist attack in New York since 9/11. “This was an act of terror,” Mayor Bill de Blasio declared at a Tuesday evening press conference.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, was radicalized while living in the U.S., the New York Daily News reported on Wednesday. Cuomo said there was no evidence to suggest a wider plot or scheme.
According to Cuomo, Saipov started to become “informed about ISIS and radical Islamic tactics” after he came to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010.
New York Investigators Find Note in Suspect’s Vehicle
Investigators probing the scene found a note in Saipov’s vehicle claiming he was committing the act for ISIS.
“Again, ISIS has gotten it down to a simple formula that they can put on the internet and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to rent a car, rent a truck. But they are cowards and they are depraved,” Cuomo said, according to the Daily News.
Cuomo later marched in Manhattan’s annual Halloween parade to show “we’re going on… The terrorists fail once again.”
Suspect Saipov Fled the Scene Shouting ‘Allah Akbar’ God Is Great
Police officials identified NYPD Officer Ryan Nash as the policeman who stopped the killing spree.
Various news reports said Saipov fled the scene shouting “Allah Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.” Saipov fired a pellet gun at Nash when the officer suddenly confronted the suspect. Nash shot Saipov in the stomach.
He was listed in critical but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday after undergoing surgery, the New York Post reported.
Saipov’s 17-block trail of terror began at 3:05 p.m., when he turned onto a bike path at West Houston Street in a Home Depot flatbed pickup truck he’d rented in Passaic, New Jersey, police sources told the Post.
Saipov rammed the vehicle into nearly two dozen cyclists and pedestrians as he sped south on the popular scenic path along the Hudson River.
Among those killed was Ann-Laure Decadt, a 31-year-old a Belgian woman and the mother of two sons, a three-year-old and a three-month-old. Decadt’s mother and two sisters, who had been biking with her, were not harmed.
Also killed were two U.S. citizens and five friends from Argentina who were in New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation.