NEW YORK CITY – The 19 year-old from Maine who attacked and wounded three New York Police Department Officers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve before being shot and arrested was an alleged “radicalized” Islamic extremist who was on the FBI’s watch list, reports say.
Trevor Bickford of Wells, 19, had specifically sought to attack “a uniformed officer” or “someone with a gun” because he believed them to be an “enemy of the state.” Bickford had attacked the officers – without provocation – with a type of machete known as a Gurkha on Saturday, injuring all three of them before one of the cops shot him in the shoulder and placed him under arrest.
All three officers are expected to survive their wounds.
Bickford had come to the attention of the FBI’s Boston office after they had been tipped off by the teen’s mother and aunt and had subsequently placed him on a terrorist watch list due to his recent “radicalization.”
The former high school wrestling champion had reportedly “found religion” following the death of his father in 2018 after a drug overdose and eventually became “radicalized,” planning to travel to Afghanistan to join Islamic militants and penning an unsettling manifesto demanding that his family “repent to Allah and accept Islam.”
Sunday afternoon, FBI agents were seen at his home and were confirmed to have entered the dwelling. Bickford is currently not believed to had acted in consort with any known terrorist organizations, but authorities say that their investigation is still ongoing.
Bickford is currently hospitalized from his injuries and will be charged once he has been medically cleared to do so.
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