Akm Shehabuddin Kisslu: Three officers were attacked by a man with machete just blocks away from Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Moments after the attack, the suspect, who was later identified as Trevor Bickford, was shot in the shoulder by police. He was expected to recover.
The attack on the officers is being investigated as a possible incident of terrorism because of online postings and the method of attack by the 19-year-old suspect. But both federal and local law enforcement stressed at an early morning news conference Sunday the attack that injured three NYPD officers appeared to be an isolated incident and there was no larger threat.
The attack happened near 52nd and 8th just after 10 p.m. on Saturday just hours before the ball dropped. Bickford pulled out a machete, striking one officer with the blade, and then another officer in the head with the handle before swinging the blade at a third officer, who then shot him in the shoulder, according to the the NYPD.
All three officers were hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and another with a bad cut, but were expected to recover. All three officers were released from the hospital on Sunday evening.
The attack and sound of a gunshot briefly sent some people in the crowd running, but the incident did not impact the festivities in Times Square, which continued uninterrupted.
Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference that he had spoken to one of the wounded officers as he was being stitched up at the hospital.
“He was in good spirits,” Adams said. “He understood that his role saved lives of New Yorkers today.”
Trevor Bickford traveled to Times Square Saturday night, and according to police, approached a checkpoint, where officers would check bags for weapons or suspicious items. Investigators believe Bickford arrived in New York Thursday, and checked into a hotel on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
The 19-year-old suspect Trevor Bickford was being held by New York City police. Trevor Bickford remains in custody and under police guard at Bellevue Hospital, where he is being treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder, sustained during the attack, a CNN repot said from sources.
