New Year’s Eve Gone Bloody When Suspect Attacks NYPD Officers With A Machete

The suspect allegedly attacked 3 NYPD police officers with a machete near New York Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve Gone Bloody When Suspect Attacks NYPD Officer With A Machete (PHOTO: ABC News)

The Man Who Brutally Attacks NYPD Officers With A Machete Is Now Facing Federal Terrorism Charges

Authorities announced Tuesday that a man accused of attacking police with a machete near New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve is now facing federal terrorism charges after he became committed to wage jihad against the U.S. government.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Trevor Thomas Bickford aged 19, years old was handcuffed and shackled at the ankles, slowly shuffled into a Manhattan federal courtroom for an initial appearance. Moreover, He was charged with federal crimes of his self-avowed jihad against U.S. government officials and his machete attack on three NYPD police officers in Times Square. Bickford was already charged with attempting to murder NYPD police officers, assault, and attempted assault in state court in Manhattan. If sentenced, he faces a mandatory life sentence in jail.

Bickford is from Wells, Maine, and authorities said that he attacked three police officers with a machete about two hours before the new year began. Prosecutors said that Bickford yelled “Allahu akbar” in the New Year’s Eve attack before hitting one officer in the head and attempting to grab another officer’s gun. He was shot in the shoulder by NYPD police and was taken to a Manhattan hospital to recover from his injuries.

Bickford Studies Radical Islamic Ideology

Authorities confirmed that Bickford began studying radical Islamic ideology last summer before deciding in November to wage jihad against U.S. officials and officials of other governments he believed to be anti-Muslim.

According to the complaint, Bickford told a family member that he desired to go to Jordan or Afghanistan to be a suicide bomber for his religion, and he told an older brother, a soldier in the U.S. military, in text messages that he wanted to go to Afghanistan to join the Taliban. He booked a ticket to fly to Jordan on December 12 but didn’t board the flight, the complaint said.

FBI also conducted an interview with Bickford who claims that he booked tickets to fly to New Delhi, India, several weeks earlier,  then plans to go to Afghanistan. There he hoped to “ally” with the Taliban and convince them to help him fight the oppression of Muslims in Myanmar, formerly Burma, the complaint added.