UPDATE:
CNN reported at 5:35 p.m. ET that the death toll in today’s terror attack in New York City has risen to eight:
The suspect in the Manhattan truck attack, a 29-year-old man, crashed his truck and then was shot by police in the abdomen, New York Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said. O’Neill said the suspect “did make a statement” after the crash, which led police to declare the incident an act of terrorism.
Six people were declared dead at the scene and two were pronounced dead at the hospital, and 11 were transported to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
President Trump responded to the terror attack in a tweet late Tuesday afternoon:
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.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
The “six and deranged person” responsible for the attack was identified by ABC News as “29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov from Tampa, Florida.”
JUST IN: Multiple officials tell ABC News suspect in custody is identified as 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov from Tampa, FL
— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) October 31, 2017
CBS News reported Saipov is a native of Uzbekistan:
#BREAKING: @CBSNews confirms identity of the NYC terror suspect as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, apparently from Uzbekistan.
— Bill Rehkopf (@BillRehkopf) October 31, 2017
NBC also reported that Saipov is from Uzbekistan, and that he came to the United States in 2010.
According to the State Department interactive website, 194 refugees from Uzbekistan were resettled in the United States in 2010.
In 2013, “A federal jury in Idaho has convicted an Uzbek refugee of three terrorism-related charges after prosecutors said he worked to support a terrorist organization and gathered explosive materials in his Boise apartment,” the New York Daily News reported:
Fazliddin Kurbanov, a Russian-speaking truck driver who fled Uzbekistan in 2009, was arrested two years ago by federal authorities who said he was determined to carry out an attack on U.S. soil. Prosecutors also said he tried to provide computer support and money to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which the U.S. government has identified as a terrorist organization.
In April of this year, “a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan . . . was the suspected driver of a truck that ploughed into a crowd in Stockholm, [Sweden] . . . killing four people.”
“Authorities say he [Saipov] came to the United States seven years ago from Uzbekistan under what is called the Diversity Visa Program, which offers a lottery for people from countries with few immigrants in America. Sources tell ABC News that in addition to an address in Tampa, he also lived in Ohio and most recently, in Paterson, New Jersey,” ABC 7 Chicago reported.
“The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV Program) makes up to 50,000 immigrant visas available annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to individuals who are from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The DV Program is administered by the U.S. Department of State (DOS),” according to the USCIS website at the Department of Homeland Security.
It is unclear what Saipov’s current immigration status is.
NBC New York reported that the 29-year old suspect “left a note in the truck claiming he committed the attack for ISIS, according to law enforcement sources.”
Authorities said the man, identified by sources as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, is thought to be a “lone actor” in the attack in the Hudson River Greenway on Tuesday afternoon. 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.
The Uzbek national living in New Jersey 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.
Sources said Saipov lives in Paterson, New Jersey, but he had a Florida license with a Tampa address when he was arrested. Police and federal agents were seen swarming the neighborhood street where he was thought to live on Tuesday evening.
Residents in the area said that Saipov had a wife and two young children.
Kobiljon Matkarov, a Facebook friend of Saipov’s, told NBC News that the two met while they were both living in Florida. He said his friend was working as a truck and Uber driver.
Fox News originally reported when the story broke about 3 p.m. eastern that six people were dead after a terror attack in New York City:
At least six people are dead after a driver barreled into a bike path and crashed a rental pickup truck into a crowd in Lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, shouting “Allahu Akbar,” law enforcement sources tell Fox News and the Associated Press.
Another nine people were injured, authorities said. Police tweeted that one person has been taken into custody and “no others outstanding.”
“Eyewitnesses told police the driver yelled ‘Allahu Akbar!’ — Arabic for ‘God is great!’ — after leaving the mangled bodies scattered behind his rental truck,” the Daily News reported:
The Middle Eastern man was arrested after police shot him in the rear end. Sources said he was waving a pair of guns when cops reached the scene.
The truck jumped the curb near Houston St. at 3:04 p.m. and began bearing down on the unsuspecting bicyclists, sources told the Daily News. Video showed crumpled two-wheelers and four bodies left in the vehicle’s deadly wake.
The arrest followed a crash involving the runaway truck on West St. a few blocks north of the World Trade Center. Several eyewitnesses initially through it was some sort of Halloween prank.
“A man in a pickup truck killed six people when he drove onto the West Side bike path in lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon — and then shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he got out of the car with fake guns, police sources said,” the New York Post reported:
The attack happened around 3:15 p.m., when a man in a flatbed pickup truck from Home Depot veered onto the bike path at West St., a few blocks north of Chambers St., police said.
The suspect, who was shot by police, then plowed his car into multiple people on the path, killing up to six and injuring several others, according to cops.
He continued driving south and hit another car, then got out and displayed “imitation firearms,” police said.
The man then shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” according to police sources.
The New York City terror attack came one day after “A pro-ISIS media group circulated an image today of a knife dripping blood over the Eiffel Tower, calling on lone jihadists to attack on Halloween,” as PJ Media reported:
“Enjoy their gathering,” reads the text superimposed over the image. “Terrorize October 31.”
Added was the hashtag #Paslechoix: “no choice.” Below that was the message, “Get out before it’s too late.”‘
It was produced by Centre Médiatique An-Nûr, which has produced in French not only videos about jihadist operations but about how online jihadis can practice web security. The group also distributes ISIS’ Rumiyah magazine, which has not yet been published this month, in French.
Developing . .
