Eight people are dead and at least a dozen injured in New York City at the hands of a terror suspect, following a rampage Tuesday afternoon when a driver plowed a white truck at least 20 city blocks down the West Side Highway in downtown Manhattan.
The suspect has been identified as 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, who immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010.
After driving a rented Home Depot truck down a bike path in lower Manhattan, Saipov crashed the truck into a school bus on Chambers Street. The driver then got out of the truck with a paintball gun and a BB gun, and was subsequently shot by the New York Police Department (NYPD). He is recovering at Belleveue Hospital.
Saipov is reportedly in the states on a green card and has a license from Tampa, Florida. He was apparently most recently living in Passaic, New Jersey, and was reportedly working as an Uber driver.
Reports came in that Saipov apparently shouted “Allahu Akbar” when he got out of his truck.
NBC reported:
Authorities said he shouted “Allahu Akbar” at some point as he sped down the bike path and apparently deliberately rammed into a school bus for children with disabilities.
He got out of that truck afterward and was seen running through traffic on West Street with a BB gun and a paintball gun before being shot in the abdomen by police and taken into custody. He’s being treated at Bellevue Hospital, where he remains in custody.
The Washington Post spoke to a woman who knew Saipov when he first came to the United States.
They reported:
Saipov moved to the United States from Uzbekistan about five or six years ago, said Dilnoza Abdusamatova, 24, who said that Saipov stayed with her family in Cincinnati for his first two weeks in the country because their fathers were friends.
She said that Saipov then moved to Florida to start a trucking company. Her family believes he got married about a year after arriving in the U.S. and may now have two children. Around that same time, she said, he cut off contact with them.
“He stopped talking to us when he got married,” Abdusamatova said.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted: “In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!”
“We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough,” he continued.
“My thoughts, condolences and prayers to the victims and families of the New York City terrorist attack,” he added. “God and your country are with you!”
Donald Trump (Twitter)
